By Bajin D. Pobia
Wa, Oct. 31, GNA-The Upper West Regional Early Child Care and Development Committee (ECCD) has expressed worry over the continuous influx of children on the streets unattended to in recent times in the Wa Municipality.
The Committee noted that most of the children were engaged in social vices such as the smoking of substances, excessive intake of alcohol, stealing, burglary, armed robbery and other forms of waywardness that are noticeable in the communities.
Madam Matilda Chireh, the Upper West Regional Director of the Department of Children, who raised the concerns at the third quarter meeting of the ECCD held in Wa, entreated parents to play their roles properly to help reduce some of those occurrences.
She called on stakeholders, especially parents, to take care of their children to enhance the orderly and peaceful future development of the country.
“The proper care of our children will determine the quality of future development of our country, and we must not lose guard in that regard.
Children are our future and the way we care for them today will determine the future of our country. Our children must live disciplined and patriotic lives because the future belongs to them,” she pointed out.
She reminded parents to be ethically upright because the choices, decisions, and all other mistakes they made in their social lives would impact their children when they grow.
Madam Freda Naatu, the Upper West Regional Director of the Environmental Department bemoaned the poor sanitary conditions of toilets at both public and private schools in the municipality, which posed health hazards to the children.
She said several schools in the region were without toilet facilities and the few that were established were left unkempt.
Madam Naatu appealed to parents to provide basic needs such as bottled water, cups, and soap for their children when they are going to school to avoid being infected with diseases.
She called on parents, school management Committees, and civil society organisations to complement the government’s efforts by providing toilet facilities for schools and engaging people to clean them for a fee.
Children Believe, a non-governmental organisation is sponsoring the ECCD meetings where institutions and stakeholders would make presentations of their activities to discuss the practices, challenges, and the way forward.
GNA