Media crucial in the fight against child labour –Prof. Buor
PROFESSOR DR. Dr. Daniel Buor, Provost, College of Art and Social Science of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has noted that media organisations could be effective organs in achieving the desired goals in fighting child labour.
He said at the second Partners' Forum of the National Programme for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa (NPECLC) in Kumasi yesterday, that Ghana's success in the fight against the worst forms of child labour in the cocoa sector and parts of the country, is inextricably bound to the effective collaboration and coordination of all activities, partners and stakeholders.
According to the Guest Speaker, all stakeholders must be on deck and adopt integrated and holistic approaches to achieve the desired effect, and cautioned against seeing themselves as competing for resources.
Professor Buor further revealed that a scale-up survey conducted last year, found that about 54% of the children in cocoa growing communities could not read and write, despite the very high enrolment and attendance rates.
This, he said, raises questions about the quality of education in cocoa growing areas, which should be a matter of concern to all, adding that interventions should therefore be tailored towards promoting the formal education of children, and advocating equal opportunities for all children.
He encouraged the NPECLC to avoid taking entrenched positions, and rather adopt open-minded and consensus building approaches.
Mrs. Rita Owusu-Amankwah, National Programme Manager, also disclosed that the year 2009 would see a scale-up of interventions at the community level, and said about 525 communities were being convened, and that about 5,000 children would be supported to enroll in schools and skills training institutions.
She revealed that the key focus for this year, would be establishment of community-based child labour monitoring systems (CCLMS), as a monitoring and a remediation tool, which is expected to mobilise the local communities to bring about a change in attitudes and behaviours, with regard to the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and also to promote an integrated approach to child development at the district and community levels, and hoped that baseline data would be collected from at least 525 communities.
Mr. George Agyemang Asenso, Development Communication Specialist of the programme, said it was their target to eliminate child labour in the cocoa growing areas and other sectors by 2015, and help develop best practices for all non-governmental organizations and partners who are implementing interventions to eliminate child alabour.