On Sunday, 97 teenagers from 11 districts answered questions with Lumbini provincial government and local level representatives saying that child marriage is the main challenge of child rights in Nepal. The teenagers questioned the government's efforts to prevent child marriage.

Also, they questioned the leaders as to why they started a debate on reducing the age of marriage instead of conducting programs to reduce child marriage. 

Child Rights Convention 1989, Constitution of Nepal 2072, Children's Act 2075, etc. There was a debate on the issue that there is still a lot of work to be done to protect children's rights. According to Census 2078, 35.2 percent of boys and 37 percent of girls between the ages of 18 and 20 are married in Lumbini Province. Adolescents drew the government's attention to the fact that due to child marriage, the education of adolescents is hindered, problems arise in reproductive health, and maternal and infant mortality rates increase. In the

program, representatives of Rupandehi, Dalit Mahila Utthan Sangh Bardia, Mukt Kamalari Vikas Manch Dang, Soiya Mahila Swabalambi Sanstha Rupandehi and Fatima Foundation Banke, active in the campaign to reduce child marriage at the state level, gave a pictorial presentation about the various effects of child marriage on the society. After the

debate, teenagers have also submitted a 16-point memorandum to Social Development Minister of Lumbini Province, Janmjay Timilsina, to play a role in building a child marriage-free society by conducting programs related to child marriage reduction. Pratibha Thapa, chairperson of the program and member of Kishori Network, said that in the memorandum, the provincial government should assess whether the legal provisions related to reducing and ending child marriage are sufficient and whether they have been implemented and adopt future strategies.

Similarly, the demand of the state government to play a role in not reducing the age of marriage from 20 years and to make the state-level child marriage reducing and ending regulatory committees active is included in the memorandum. According to Thapa, since child marriage violates the right of children to develop all-round in a violence-free environment, including their educational, mental and physical health, it has been demanded that state-level awareness programs against child marriage should be conducted.

Similarly, it has been demanded that rights-oriented educational, health, social and economic programs should be conducted for children and their children who are forced to live in difficult conditions due to child marriage. Adolescents have demanded that children and adolescents should create an environment where they do not have to do any kind of violence and live a life with self-respect.

It has been requested to collect data on the status of child marriage in Lumbini province, the negative impact on children and families affected by its ill effects and to review and revise the provincial policy accordingly and make a more effective plan and implement it. It has been requested to collect the data of teenagers who gave birth at the age of less than 20 years and the children born from them and address their problems. The memorandum also includes a demand that the local government should take necessary intervention steps to stop such marriages as soon as it receives information about child marriages and that the provincial government should coordinate and cooperate with it.