Coronavirus: Child marriage don rise for Ethiopia as schools dey closed

Authorities for North Ethiopia don raise alarm say some parents dey force dia girl pikin wey neva reach 18 years to marry as schools don close because of coronavirus pandemic.

More than one thousand ceremonies na im authorities don stop and 541 of these weddings involve child brides wey suppose dey for school if to say schools no dey closed.

BBC tori pesin, Kalkidan Yibeltal report say di authorities discover dis as dem dey try to enforce ban on large gatherings and social events.

Most of dis marriages wey authorities don stop for di past two months na mostly for rural areas, inside Amhara, one of di kontri nine states.

Schools - and in particular primary schools - no just dey provide education for rural areas but di authorities also dey use dem to make sure say girls no dey married off young and dem no by force boys to go work for farms.

Netsanet Legesse wey be head of children and women affairs office inside di district for di state tell BBC say:

"Because of di coronavirus pandemic, schools dey closed. We used to work hand in hand with schools to monitor and tackle underage marriage.

But now schools dey closed and we dey find am hard to work- to get di information. So coronavirus na something wey dey affect dis mata."

Officials tell BBC say more than 40 parents of di 'would-be child brides' na im dem penalise without saying wetin di penalties be; dem give many of di parents instruction concerning di disadvantage of early marriage.

Ethiopia get one of di highest rates of early marriage- with documents wey show say 40% of girls dey married before di age of 18.