KUALA SELANGOR, Oct 11 — Requiring children to attend school up to secondary level is a catalyst to ongoing efforts to raise the marriageable age to 18 in the country, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said today.

"I am made to understand that 98 per cent of children between the ages of seven and 17 are registered with schooling institutions,” she said.

She said the government supports all efforts to require children to be educated at least up to the secondary level.

The government wants to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to receive a good education, to live healthy, to be successful and to have happiness and well-being in life, she said when closing the Conference on Women and Family Development 2018 at the Bestari Jaya campus of Universiti Selangor (Unisel).

Also present was Selangor state executive councillor Siti Mariah Mahmud and Unisel president and vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Mohammad Redzuan Othman.

Recently, there was polemics on the marriageable age in the country after a 15-year-old girl was married to a 44-year-old man in Kelantan in July.

Dr Wan Azizah, who is also women, family and community development minister, said the government has also drawn up various programmes under the National Child Protection Policy and Plan of Action to build a safer and more prosperous life for children.

She said this was to ensure the rights and well-being of children in the country.

The deputy prime minister said that on her recent visit to Jakarta, she learned that Indonesia is in the process of making the 514 districts in the country child-friendly based on 24 key performance indicators.

"Of the 514 districts, 369 are ready and have pledged to do the bidding. This is something that we can study and introduce in our country,” she said. — Bernama