“Local problems like child marriage need to be addressed by involving local leaders and regional heads,” he said in Jakarta on Thursday.
According to the minister, leaders are expected to use a psychological approach to remind the youth to reject child marriage as it can cause stunting in children.
He further said that child marriage can threaten the future of children’s education and disrupt girls’ reproductive systems. For that reason, cross-sectoral collaboration is considered necessary because early marriage needs to be addressed through a psychological approach.
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“The child marriage problem is rather complex, and one of the things we are doing today is building collaboration, not only with institutions, but also community leaders, because this is a more psychological problem, which has a long-term impact on education,” he added.
In addition, he noted that the role of the father is vital in parenting and needs special attention, considering that so far, most family affairs tend to be left up to mothers.
“Sometimes, the fathers only contribute in terms of economy ... children need the presence of a father as an example of a leader; they need psychological support and a more emotional approach,” he expounded.
According to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), in 2024, the proportion of women aged 20–24 who were married or in a union before the age of 18 in Indonesia stood at 5.90 percent.
West Nusa Tenggara was the province with the highest proportion of such women at 14.96 percent.
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Translator: Lintang Budiyanti, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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