By Edward Williams
Kpando (V/R), June 12, GNA – The General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) of TUC-Ghana, has organised inter-schools game competitions for some schools in the Kpando Municipality of the Volta Region as part of activities to mark the 2025 World Day Against Child Labour.
The Participated schools took part in games such as football, skipping ropes, scrabbles and dartboard and won several prizes, medals, trophies, branded exercise books and school bags, footballs, volleyballs, and mathematical sets while other learners receive school uniforms.
The event in collaboration with the Danish Trade Development Agency (DTDA), saw the overall first position going to the Kpando Togorme M/A Primary School followed by Kpando Dzigbe R.C Primary School and third being the Kpando Avetikope M/A Primary School.
Mr Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe, General Secretary, General Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) of TUC-Ghana, said the games organised formed parts of GAWU’s efforts at reducing child labour and making the school an interesting place by working with the teachers and the children.
He said GAWU was supporting the schools in the Kpando Dzigbe, Torkor, Abotoase and Aveme areas as well as the communities to be able to champion the course of decent work and then also promote child labour free zones in the communities.
Mr Tagoe said the Union had also worked to identify several children who were in child labour over the years with more than 2,000 within the four areas, some of whom supported and had gone to school including universities.
He said sometimes children rescued who were above their school going age, were enrolled in bridge schools with the support for teachers in the school to establish extra classes which would monitor the rescued children and put them in their appropriate classes.
Mr Tagoe said GAWU was an establishment of a TVET Centre in Abotoase with the support of traditional authorities to offer training in phone repairs, tailoring, dressmaking, hairdressings and barbering in an environmentally friendly way to equip children rescued above their school-going ages as well as the young ones who wanted to learn skills.
He said GAWU’s work addressed root causes of child labour including promotion of child labour-free zones in the area, adding that children rescued received counselling and advising them on the need to go to school.
Mr Tagoe said the needs of the children were assessed to ascertain why they were not in school, adding that some hinderances included school uniforms and adequate provisions were made to ensure that they stayed in school.
He said in a bid to ensure that parents had enough income to support their children, four aquaculture centres in their zones and working with partners to assist beneficiaries produce fish out of the lake.
Mr Tagoe said GAWU in its effort to improve decent working conditions among tilapia or lake volta fishermen, it had undertaken a few activities and projects to help organize the inland canoe fishermen and their communities and families into groups to be able to access developmental projects also from the assemblies, government, themselves through self-initiation and also, represent themselves and advocate.
The national theme for the celebration of the 2025 World Day Against Child Labour is “Progress is clear, but there’s more to do: Let’s speed up efforts”.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Kenneth Odeng Adade