09 August,2010 07:21 AM IST | | Vivek Sabnis
Unique 'marriage awareness' course launched by city social workers to arrest zooming divorce rate among young, middle-class couples gets roaring response
AN unusual course has become a hit with young city couples even before classes have begun. The 'marriage awareness course'u00a0-- the brainchild of two NGOsu00a0-- is an attempt to arrest the divorce rate that is shooting up among newly married young professionals in the city.
Illustration/ Satish Acharya
According to the Family Court, every year 35 per cent of marriages are found heading towards divorce among newlyweds in the city. To check this trend, two NGOsu00a0-- Women's Network and Lok Sanvedanau00a0-- have come together to start the course on marriage awareness.
"I don't believe that all stories end with the 'and they lived happily ever after' line," said Sujata Atre (name changed), who has signed up for the course. "My husband suspects I am having an extra-marital affair with my colleague. I want to change the story to 'they succeeded in overcoming their differences and avoided a divorce'."
The NGOs behind the course say counselling and talking it out can help save a marriage. And the NGOs add that the good response to the course suggests the will to save their marriage does exist in couples going through a stormy patch, but what with the stress of modern life and professional demands, most are unable to sort out differences without guidance.
Couples waiting to tie knot welcome
The course is not restricted to married couples. Couples who are about to tie the knot can also sign up.
Even though the seats are limited to just 20 per batch as of now, the organisers are planning to increase intake as the number of enquiries go up.
Like Sujata and her husband, there are many young couples who are on the verge of a break-up and are in need of counselling to save their marriage.
Relka (28) and Prem (30) (names changed) have a three-year-old daughter. Rekha said differences began cropping up after she started earning Rs 10,000 more than her husband. "My husband started alleging that I have become dominating," she said. "I hope counselling helps us sort out issues in our marriage."
Mangala Samant, president, Women's Network, said she was happy with the response to the course as it indicated a vast majority of couples wanted their marriage to work.
"We had floated the idea three months ago and it is heartening to see young people enrolling for the course," said Samant.
Samant, who will take care of teaching the sociological aspect of marriage, will have psychiatrist Dr Shirisha Sathe, marriage counsellor Professor Sunil Kalsekar and Advocate Aseem Sarode, who actively pursues social issues, as other members of the teaching faculty for the course.
Care has been taken to design the course to deal with the issues prevalent among the young generation, said Samant. Apart from the basic aspects of marriage, the course will cover sex and its importance in saving a marriage and building it into a lasting relationship. "Parents of young couples want to ensure something concrete is done to ensure the future of marriage," said Samant.
Sarode said society also had to change with the times.
"There is hardly any scope to judge the partner before getting married in our society and this should change," said Sarode. "The course will also focus on this issue."
COURSE INFO
Fee structure
Three-weeks course (every Saturday): Rs 500
Six-week course (every Saturday): Rs 1,100
A certificate will be given after completion of course
How to enrol
Couples desirous of registering for the course can approach the following address:
Office of the magazine Milun Sarya Jani A/B, Bhonde Colony, Karve Road
Or you can call Mangala Sawant on 9371325411
