Some estimates suggest that the rate of child marriage in Indonesia is increasing during the pandemic. In addition to threatening the government’s efforts to reduce the rate of child marriage to 8.74 percent by 2024, this phenomenon will have a serious impact on child marriage survivors, their families, and society in general. Studies on child marriage show a strong association with vulnerability in children born to these families. This vulnerability is believed to have strengthened due to deteriorating economic conditions and the closure of social services, including schools, during the pandemic.
INOVASI conducted a study on child marriage to understand the vulnerability of children whose mothers married at a young age, hereinafter referred to as child marriage families, as well as the implications for aspects of children’s learning during the pandemic. Data collection was carried out in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, taking into account that this province is one of the locations with the highest prevalence of child marriage rates in Indonesia. Given that the INOVASI program focuses on education, especially at the elementary level, the study only involved families with children in the schools that were the sample of the INOVASI study. In order to understand the vulnerability of these children, this study explores: (1) the background of the parents in child marriage families, (2) the potential vulnerability of children born to child marriage families, and (3) the process and learning outcomes of these children during the pandemic.