A Career Festival has been held in Fulchhari, Gaibandha to create awareness among teenagers, students and guardians to accelerate steps to stop child marriage. In this exceptional festival, students dream of pursuing higher education and establishing themselves in life instead of child marriage.

The festival runs from morning to noon on Thursday (September 11). The festival was organized under the SKS Foundation’s Accelerating Action to End Child Marriage in Bangladesh (Phase Two) project at the Burail Model School and College grounds of the upazila, with the technical assistance of Action Aid Bangladesh. The premises of the Festival of Opportunities were filled with the walk of students, parents, well-wishers and organizers from three local institutions.

At the festival, students visited stalls of female professional organizations in the fields of health and medicine, education, agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry, business and independent employment (freelancing), law and justice, sports, banking and insurance, journalism and content creation to learn about the ill effects of child marriage and future plans to become successful people. Students were inspired by listening to practical information about various professions, career guidance and inspiring stories.

They pledged to become successful people without child marriage in the future. During the festival, foreign representatives visited the stalls and shared their experiences. In addition to raising awareness, the program discussed ways to become successful people.

The speakers included: Ian Suiles, First Secretary (Humanitarian and Gender) of the Netherlands Embassy in Bangladesh, Bert Ising, Senior Financial Advisor, Mashfika Zaman Satyar, UNFPA Bangladesh Chief (Adolescence and Youth) Elijah Azrei, Senior Officer of Action Aid Bangladesh A.Z.M. Mousham Islam, SKS Foundation Deputy Director (Development Program) Khandaker Zahid Sarwar Sohel, Coordinator (Field Operations) Bahram Khan, Fulchhari Upazila Women’s Affairs Officer Shafiqul Islam, Upazila Additional Agriculture Officer Tajmira Akhter, Upazila Fisheries Officer Ankhi Sarkar, Upazila Secondary Academic Supervisor Nur-e Alam Siddique, Upazila Health Complex Dental Surgeon Dr. Rubina Afroz, advocate Sanjida Akhter, female entrepreneur Taslima Akhter, small businessperson Miftahul Jannat, Gaibandha district women’s football team member Suborna Akhter, among others.

One of the attractions of the festival was the Dream Wall and Quiz Competition. Students wrote their future dreams and professional aspirations on the Dream Wall. On the other hand, in the quiz competition, teenagers gained new ideas about gender, SRHR (sexual and reproductive health and rights) and GBV (violence against women).

Later, prizes were given to the winning students in the quiz competition. Koli Akhter, a student of Chalua Fazle Rabbi Girls’ High School, said, “We have very few opportunities to attend such festivals.” I really enjoyed coming here. I learned about the harmful aspects of child marriage and how child marriage destroys a girl and her family. Apart from that, after completing secondary school, I have received various directions for higher education and professional life. Which will be useful in the future, I can also tell my friends about it. A guardian named Selim Mia, who brought his daughter, said, “My daughter is in the tenth grade. Many proposals are coming for her marriage right now.”

After coming here, I got a good idea about my daughter’s future. This guardian promised to make every effort to get her daughter a higher education. Fulchhari Upazila Women’s Affairs Officer Shafiqul Islam said, Fulchhari Upazila is one of the most vulnerable upazilas in the country for child marriage. This festival, the first of its kind in Fulchhari, will be very useful in stopping child marriage.