ActionAid calls for protection of children’s rights
The Coordinator of Network of Communities in Development (NOCID), a Kadjebi-based non-governmental organisation, Mr David Sah, has appealed to Ghanaians to help promote children’s rights and protect them from abuse.
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He mentioned some of the abuses as child neglect, violence, discrimination on the grounds of race, age, religion, disability, health status, custom, ethnic origin, rural or urban background, birth or socio-economic status.
He made the appeal at a programme at Kadjebi in the Volta Region, during which ActionAid Ghana, in partnership with NOCID, engaged the School Management Committees (SMCs), Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Kadjebi District Assembly on how best to improve on children’s rights, especially the right to education.
Human rights
According to Mr Sah, every person in Ghana should be entitled to fundamental human rights and freedoms because he or she is a human being, irrespective of race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender.
He said there was the need to create a safe, non-violent, non-discriminatory, clear and safe environment for the child to achieve his/her full potential.
He said even though the 1992 Constitution had made adequate provisions for the protection of children’s rights such as the right to free and compulsory education, right to non-discrimination, right to adequate infrastructure, among others, they were not taken seriously and the effective implementation of such rights had become problematic to all governments.
Mr Sah, who is also a former Deputy Director of Education in charge of Human Resource Development, admonished teachers to shun absenteeism, drunkenness, sexual harassment and amorous relationship with students in order to maintain the image of the teaching profession.
Hard work
An Assistant Director of Education in charge of Human Resource Management and Development at the Kadjebi District Directorate of the GES, Mr Gasper Hopeson Tetteh, in a speech read on behalf of the District Director of Education, advised teachers to work hard to help improve the standard of education in the district.
Mr Tetteh said they must see the teaching profession as a call to serve humanity.
He also called on parents to invest heavily in the education of their children because it was the foundation for the accomplishment of their goals in life.
The Programmes Officer of NOCID, Madam Agnes Obour, entreated participants to assist in addressing cases of abuse against children both in school and in the communities.