Child bride not keen on school

GUA MUSANG: The 11-year-old child bride, who created a stir for marrying a 41-year-old scrap rubber dealer, has no interest in pursuing religious studies at a pondok school.

Her mother said the family had tried their best to persuade her to take up offers to study in a pondok school either in Kelantan or their homeland Thailand.

“Even her husband is willing to let her study in a pondok school. But she is not interested.

“She wants to stay home with us and study Quran together with her friends in the village,” she said.

The mother, 47, prefers her daughter to pursue religious education in a pondok school, as being a poor migrant child, she was deprived of formal education.

“We do not want to force her. But we won’t give up trying to persuade her, for her own good,” she said.

The mother also stressed that although the marriage was solemnised in Narathiwat on June 18, her daughter would only be allowed to live with her husband when she turns 16.