Child marriage awareness part of learning at Childlink school

 MINERVA BC NEWMAN

CEBU CITY -- Childlink Learning Center and Childlink High School Inc. goes beyond teaching hard skills such as reading, writing, mathematics and use of computer, this school encouraged their students to develop soft skills, including empathy and continues to promote advocacies and learning about social issues in the community.

For March which is celebrated as Women’s Month, Childlink launches the “Ending Child Marriage” campaign.  Childlink founder and school directress Maria Theresa Tio said that the Philippines is the 12^th country in the world with a high incidence of child marriage.

Tio quoted the United Nations Population Fund, in a policy brief released on January 2020 that one out of six Filipina girls gets married before they are 18 years old. This meant that 16.5 percent of young women aged 20-24 married before they became 18. This occurs although the Philippine Family Code sets the marriageable age at 18 years old.

“Many don’t know that there are child marriages in the Philippines. Our students thought that child marriages only happen due to early and unplanned pregnancies.  But there are different reasons such as poverty or arranged marriage, which is practiced in some parts of our country,” Tio said.

She noted that there’s a need for students to know what causes child marriage and its impact on society.  An analysis from the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) of Region XII shows that child marriage is both a result and a cause of the perpetuation of a cycle of gendered poverty.

 To create awareness, Childlink asked high school students to join a webinar “Girls Not Brides” initiated by the Zonta Club of Cebu 2.  This was then followed by another webinar organized by the school that featured a discussion on child marriage conducted by Atty. Noemi Truya Abarientos from the Children’s Legal Bureau.  The students were then assigned to come up with an infographic poster on child marriage.

A Grade 10 student in her essay wrote: “Brides may be girls, but girls are not just brides. They are doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, designers, soldiers, students, and trailblazers.  How could you ever expect girls to build their life up to only one role?  Marriage is a choice not culture. A girl’s childhood is not a preparation to be a mother and wife, instead it is for education to be the person she dreams to be.”

 As a School of Character, Childlink has been creating awareness among its students of the social concerns existing outside the safe bubble of their homes and the school. These include environment protection, cyber bullying, teenage pregnancies and anti-violence against children.

The school also spearheaded community outreach programs involving the students such as reading programs, coastal cleanups, and anti-teenage pregnancy campaign, among others.

“I believe exposing children as early as this age to doing community outreach makes them realize there’s really purpose for them,” Tio pointed out.

She added that the school wants to encourage students to realize that whatever course or career they will choose in the future, there’s something they can contribute to the community

“Usually, when we make videos (for our advocacies), we ask students for concepts which is made as basis for the videos. We ask them to share the videos as much as they can. We are tapping other agencies in our community to help us propagate the message,” Tio said.

Childlink will feature a video on child marriage on its website soon. http://childlink.edu.ph/.

By doing these community advocacies, Childlink is fulfilling its role as a “School of Character” in developing caring and responsible individuals of the community, Tio said. (Photos: Childlink)