Education is the solution to the child bride issue

Readers discuss the minimum age for marriage and how to prevent much older men marrying child brides.

With regard to Rym Ghazal's opinion column, Older men are stealing the childhood of girl brides (February 18), the root causes of child marriage are complex and involve factors such as poverty, cultural norms, lack of economic opportunities and lack of access to education.

I do not support child marriage because parents need to nourish, cherish and educate their children. Not completing their education because they are married at a young age hampers the child’s future because they are still in the learning stage of life.

Parents need to draw the line, while children also need to have their say.

Child marriages often occur when parents see few other options for their daughter apart from her traditionally prescribed role in the family. Education can provide alternatives and can lead to employment and to earnings so that it becomes worthwhile investing in their daughters – for the sake of the girl, the family and the entire community.

Mathew Litty, Dubai

I find the very concept of child marriages disgusting and it should not be allowed.

In the West we have set the age of 18 as being an adult, although I'm not sure even that's old enough.

I believe anyone younger than 18 should be protected by the state as, clearly, there are some horrible money-seeking parents out there. I do not understand why a real man would want to marry a child.

Dave Pryce, Dubai

Some of the so-called open minded people who are commenting on this are also the most judgemental. Marriage happens at different ages in different parts of the world.

For some, 18 is too young, but for others that age worked perfectly. Getting married earlier means there won't have been previous multiple partners.

Enough with judging people based on your culture and start accepting things from different perspective. To me, 16 and above is pretty much acceptable so long as both parties freely agree.

Aouse Carter, Malaysia

Energy is more than simply oil

After reading the profile article, Sultan Al Jaber: New man at Adnoc helm has the right energy mix (February 18), my view is we should not kid ourselves that fossil fuels will simply disappear, paving the way for renewable energy.

However with the share of renewable energy forecast to increase, many oil and gas companies will have to become energy companies and not just petroleum, oil and gas companies.

The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, for instance, needs to include more renewable energy in its curriculum and in doing so ought to change its name to the Energy Institute.

When we consider the investment in solar power plants and with Irena headquartered in Abu Dhabi, it makes sense to put someone like Mr Al Jaber at the head of Adnoc.

Randall Mohammed, Dubai

How to rein in reckless drivers

In relation to the news article, Young drivers' recklessness to blame for 'majority' of Abu Dhabi crashes (February 16), I have almost been wiped out by four-wheel-drives three times in the last week – twice in Dubai and once in Al Ain.

My suggested solutions would be for banks to only give loans for fast cars to people aged over 30 and for all cars to have a maximum speed limit in line with the RTA’s speed limits.

Name withheld by request

Most drivers seem to think they are in a car race and they don’t care about the lives of others. They have no discipline at all.

Only a few of them use their indicators. Most of them will change lanes without thinking or looking.

Mohammad Nasirin, Abu Dhabi

Banks work only for themselves

Keren Bobker's financial advice column, Former Dubai expat finds unpaid UAE credit card debt has grown significantly over time (February 14), just goes to show that the banks don't work with you.

They want people to repay the whole outstanding debt at once, which for many people is not an option. They are not realistic and put people in bad situations. They need to come up with more reasonable options for people or else this kind of thing will keep happening.

Sylvia Elsa Reyna, Abu Dhabi

The main point seems to be not defaulting to the bank because even with repayment options, the case remains active.

Sure, the banks are insured, but the police case stays active – even after payment.

Shane Jaddoo, Abu Dhabi