By Caleb Kuleke
Ho, June 19, GNA- Mrs Emily Ohui Adevor, a Partnership Facilitator at Compassion International Ghana, Adaklu-Agotime Cluster, has called for a multi-sectoral approach to the development of children.
She said the holistic development of children, which included cognitive, spiritual, physical, emotional and social, was essential in preparing them for future responsibilities.
Mrs Adevor said these in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Ho, to commemorate this year’s International Day of the African Child dubbed: “The Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment.”
The Partnership Facilitator emphasised the need for all stakeholders, including caregivers and parents, to be interested in providing quality education and training to children in a conducive environment.
Mrs Adevor noted that when children were well-trained and educated to achieve their full potential, the country would have a strong future workforce to contribute to achieving its goals and objectives.
Touching on the theme, Mrs Adevor stressed that although it was important to provide opportunities for children in the digital environment, measures must be put in place to ensure their safety and security.
Mr Michael Tormeti, the Acting Volta Regional Director for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), encouraged parents to take full responsibility for their children to help minimise ‘streetism’.
The welfare of children, he said, must be paramount in every decision or action taken on their behalf, insisting that no matter the offence a child might have committed, parents should not punish the child by refusing him or her education, food, healthcare and shelter.
The International Day of the African Child was instituted by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1991 to honour children who participated in the Soweto Uprising on June 16, 1976.
The Day also aimed at raising awareness of the need for continuous improvement in the education of the African child.
On June 16, 1976, about ten thousand black school children in Soweto, South Africa, marched in a column more than half a mile to protest the poor quality of their education and demand their rights to be taught in their own language.
Hundreds of them were shot and killed while more than a thousand got injured in the protest.
Hence on June 19, every year, Governments, Non-Governmental Organisations and other international bodies celebrate the Day, to discuss challenges and ways of ensuring the full realisation of the rights of children in Africa.
GNA