Symposium to tackle child marriages

Around 50 youth advocates – social work students – have been trained as the initial step said A Devaneyan, director of Thozhamai. 

“The advocates are present in Stella Maris College and Loyola College in the city, and at Bishop Heber College in Tiruchy, and Amritha University and Bharathiar University in Coimbatore,” he added.

Highlighting the magnitude of the issue, Devaneyan said that the problem was earlier concentrated only in pockets, but with increased migration, Chennai and surrounding pockets have begun to see such cases more often. “We have seen cases in Tiruporur, Ponneri, Avadi, etc. recently. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Chennai witnessed the highest number of such cases in TN in 2016. That indicates the issue is rampant in the resettlement sites, where there is a safety concern.”

The youth advocates can use memes, art forms, etc. to campaign against it, he added.