Government committed to the development of children

Accra, Nov. 27, GNA - Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, has reiterated government's commitment to ensure the total development of the Ghanaian child in an environment of peace and security.

' As a prelude to Christmas and Ghana's elections in 2016, this year's KIDDAFEST will set the tone for our political actors to tread politely and in a manner that will not affect the future leaders who are critical for national development', she said.

The Minister said this on Tuesday at the launch of this year's Accra International Children's Arts Festival, dubbed KIDDAFEST 2015.

The two-day event on the theme: 'Creating Harmony through Cultural Diversity' will take place with an unprecedented showy display from December 18 - 19 at the National Theatre.

This year's activities will be anchored by Tic Tac, the well-known musician, and the event would include dance theatre, music, poetry, brass band competition, visual arts, and painting.

She said the event brings children from across the country and beyond to exhibit their God given talents and skills through various artistic performances.

Mrs Ofosu-Adjare said since its inception in 1994, KIDDAFEST has offered children the platform to unearth their talents and motivated thousands of young talented children to discover themselves.

She said in the best democracies the world over, children have excelled in the talents through a congenial environment devoid of religious or political intolerance and civil strife.

The Minister said if the children are made to experience sharing and playing with one another within a good climate of multicultural performances, they will appreciate living in harmony with one another.

Mrs Amy Frimpong, Acting Executive Director of the National Theatre, said this year's event, launched in Calvary Methodist Junior High School in Adabraka, was because there are lot of creative and talented kids in the district who will benefit by drawing inspiration from the programme to develop their artistic voices.

She said the event is critical because their outfit believes that the arts are central to a child's development.

Mrs Frimpong said this year's they have decreased the number of days for the festival from three to two days, stressing that the days will be filled with enough activities to delight the public.

Mrs Frimpong thanked all the basic school's supervisors, teachers and parents for rearing the children to appreciate their culture saying it is an indication that teaching does not only occur in the classrooms but in the society.

GNA