Bajura teenagers take collective action to eliminate social evils

Bajura: Teenagers in Bajura have become increasingly active in efforts to eliminate long-standing social evils prevalent in various villages and communities. Issues such as caste discrimination, untouchability, child marriage, and violence against women have persisted for years, prompting young people to take collective action to address them.

A teenager from Dogadi in Chhededah Rural Municipality-5, Khaptad, said that group discussions are being organized among local youth to uproot these practices, which are seen as obstacles to building a prosperous society.

She said that harmful traditions passed down by the older generation have negatively impacted the younger generation, making it necessary for teenagers to coordinate and organize various programs to end them.

According to a local elderly woman, the involvement of teenagers in group discussions has significantly reduced incidents of caste discrimination, untouchability, and violence against women in the village.

In Bajura, many women from the older generation still follow the practice of staying in chhaugoth during menstruation. However, younger women have begun to abandon this tradition and instead stay in their own rooms. Teenagers have been spreading awareness from house to house that chhaugoth is unnecessary, leading to a shift in practice among the new generation.

Local governments have also been conducting programs aimed at ending such practices. Despite this, some educated women remain hesitant to abandon chhaugoth due to fears of angering the gods.

According to Dev Bahadur Serala, facilitator of the Women's Development Forum Bajura, more than 100 teenagers from Khaptad Chhededah Rural Municipality were married as children in the fiscal year 2080/81. However, in the current fiscal year, that number has dropped to zero.

Serala said that teenagers have played a key role in preventing child marriage and are actively encouraging those who have dropped out of school to return to their studies.

He added that the growing involvement of teenagers, under the coordination of the Women's Development Forum Bajura, is contributing to a gradual decline in long-standing social evils in the district.