Child marriage in Bangladesh during COVID-19 (2020-2022): A Study on Secondary High School in Rajshahi

Abstract

Child marriage is one of the social disorders in Bangladesh which is barrier to overall progress of the country. It is a social circumstance in Bangladesh that might be defined in many ways such as ; a legal problem, social problem, health problem, population problem and gender discrimination problem. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how lockdown affects child marriage or mandatory marriage. However, many studies show that in pandemic period because of child marriage implementation, it is heavily affecting the girls. The survey report of the Pannapara High School shows that about 35% girls are married in covid-19 period. The study also aims at determining the immediate causes of forced marriage during Covid-19 as well as how the lockdown period due to Covid-19 influenced the decision of marriage. School closures and declining family incomes have direct connection with child marriage which also put additional pressure on families.