BharatMatrimony encourages girls to choose education over marriage through “Pehle Padhai Phir Shaadi” social campaign

Mumbai, February 23, 2022: BharatMatrimony, India’s leading matrimony service, today announced “Pehle Padhai Phir Shaadi” – a social initiative to empower girls to choose education over marriage.

Through this initiative select girl students from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, who will complete 12^th standard this year, will receive scholarships to help them pursue their dreams through college education.   

Jaisalmer’s walls are decorated with beautiful paintings of wedding art. But, behind this, is a stark reality. The city is a part of Rajasthan which has low adult literacy rates among girls in the country.

The reason is simple – the girls are often made to choose marriage over education.

Through “Pehle Padhai Phir Shaadi”, an initiative to drive social change, BharatMatrimony is encouraging parents to empower their daughters with freedom to think, choose and take this life-changing decision between education and marriage. Not stopping there, BharatMatrimony is creating a special Shiksha art inspired by the wedding wall graffiti, which celebrates and announces this key choice.

Murugavel Janakiraman, Founder and CEO – Matrimony.com, says “As a brand in the forefront of empowering women, BharatMatrimony is constantly trying to break new ground and change the social perspective about women, relationships and marriage. We believe “Pehle Padhai Phir Shaadi” will drive social change by encouraging girls to choose education first. Let’s not forget that educating a girl is like educating the family.”

MS Dhoni, former Indian captain and brand ambassador for BharatMatrimony, says, ““I’m very proud to be associated with BharatMatrimony’s #PehlePadhaiPhirShaadi initiative to transform the future of girls by empowering them to make the choice between education and marriage.”

BharatMatrimony’s “Pehle Padhai, Phir Shaadi” initiative was executed in collaboration with the Dentsu Group. Aalap Desai, National Creative Director, Isobar India, says, "When we saw the problem, the solution didn't call for a cutting-edge tech to be employed. Rather, simply asking parents to hand the decision to their daughters and celebrate it no matter what, was what the campaign called for. For us, Dhoni was the perfect spokesman to appeal to these parents. And that's exactly what we did."

Watch MS Dhoni’s message asking girls to choose education over marriage: https://youtu.be/4tvelY88fQg

About Matrimony.com limited

Matrimony.com is India’s leading consumer Internet Company. It is a signature consumer internet conglomerate, managing marquee brands such as BharatMatrimony, CommunityMatrimony and EliteMatrimony. BharatMatrimony is considered the largest and most trusted matrimony brand which has also established a considerable retail presence with over 110 self-owned retail outlets across India.  Matrimony.com has also recently launched Jodii - a vernacular matchmaking service for common people. The Company delivers matchmaking and marriage related services to users in India and the Indian diaspora.  The Company has pioneered several new business models such as WeddingBazaar.com, Mandap.com and CommunityMatrimony.com, a consortium of over 300 community matrimony websites and now Jodii.