TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In a commemoration of National Education Day, the director of KAPAL Perempuan Institute Misiyah stated the institution urged President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to immediately issue a revision of the law on marriage age from 16 to 18 thus the children can have the right of the 12-year compulsory education.

“We demanded the president to issue a policy on the minimum of marriage age,” said Misiyah in a written statement in Jakarta, Wednesday, May 2.

Misiyah argued there has a tendency of children to drop out from school due to the child marriages. The child marriage, she stated, occurred because the Law No. 1/1974 on Marriage stipulating the legal marriage for the girls at the minimum age of 16.

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Misiyah noted in 2015, Indonesia was ranked as the seventh country with the highest child marriage. Based on Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 23 percent of female age 20-24 years old got married under the age of 18 throughout 2015.

Other than the high rate of dropout at 90 percent, Misiyah added the child marriage also affect the rate of maternal mortality, poverty, and child stunting.

Misiyah went on to say that the child marriage is against the Law No. 35/2014 on Child Protection. “Child marriage must be ended,” she asserted.

In the National Education Day, Misiyah urged the House of Representatives (DPR) to ensure there will be a regulation and budget allocation in a bid to prevent child marriage under age 18. She also demanded the Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and Culture guarantee the children’s right to have 12 years of education.

TAUFIQ SIDDIQ