Viral message claims that convents were started for children born out of wedlock in UK; Fact Check

A message is being shared on Whatsapp which has stated numerous claims about convent schools and convents, in general. The message has been forwarded many times on the messaging platform and other social media platforms showing school girls in uniform and laying down the viral claims.

ब्रिटेन में एक कानून था, ” लिव इन रिलेशनशिप ” बिना किसी वैवाहिक संबंध के एक लड़का और एक लड़की का साथ में रहना, तो इस प्रक्रिया के अनुसार संतान भी पैदा हो जाती थी तो उन संतानों को किसी चर्च में छोड़ दिया जाता था।

अब ब्रिटेन की सरकार के सामने यह गम्भीर समस्या हुई कि इन बच्चों का क्या किया जाए तब वहाँ की सरकार ने काँन्वेंट खोले अर्थात् जो बच्चे अनाथ होने के साथ-साथ नाजायज हैं , उनके लिए ये काँन्वेंट बने।

The viral message, written in Hindi, claims that convents were initially started for children born out of wedlock. It also claims that Britain had a “live-in relationship law.”

Digiteye India received a fact check request on its WhatsApp to verify the claims made in this viral message about convents.

FACT CHECK

There is no law in the United Kingdom which dictates that a couple has to live in cohabitation. However, British law recognises live-in relationships and offers some rights to the couple in such a relationship. These relationships have been a part of the law since 1948. British citizens who are aged 16 and above can live together with mutual consent.

British law defines a live-in relationship, as “Two people who are neither married to each other nor a civil partner of each other must be members of the same household if they are to be treated as Living Together As a Married Couple and thus a couple.” It also offers legal support for victims of domestic violence in live-in relationships.

Regardless of marital status, both parents have equal parental responsibility for their child if they are named on the birth certificate. This means they have equal rights and responsibilities for the child’s upbringing, including decisions about education, healthcare, and other important aspects of the child’s life. In case a child is abandoned, they will be placed in foster care first.

Similarly, India also recognizes live-in relationships and safeguards couples. Children born into these relationships also have certain legal rights.

Coming to the origin of Convents, they were not built to rehabilitate abandoned children born out of wedlock. In Europe, convents and monasteries were built as residential buildings to be used by members of Christian communities so that they could live a daily religious life detached from everyday pressures. Convents were built for women engaged in religious pursuits, but later they provided “asylums for ‘fallen women’, orphanages and schools.”

Convents did take in orphaned and abandoned children but that wasn’t their main purpose. They provided these children with shelter, education, and basic care. In order to survive, England’s Catholic churches started convent schools. “The pupils followed a modified monastic routine, while they were taught the skills appropriate for young “gentlewomen”, such as music and needlework. While many students were placed in convents with the intention that they would become nuns, not all girls followed this trajectory,” states a 2016 research article.

Unlike what the message claims, the first time convent schools in India did not start in 1842. The earliest convent school in India started in 1846 – Loreto Convent School, Darjeeling.

Hence, the claims in the message are totally false.

CLAIM: Britain had a live-in relationship law. Convents were started for children born out of wedlock.

CONCLUSION: The UK recognizes live-in relationships and offers legal support to such couples. Convents were primarily formed for women engaged in religious pursuits and abandoned children were taken and cared for.

RATING: – Misrepresentation