Enroll your children in schools not in ‘labour’

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly, Elijah Adansi-Bonah, has advised parents and guardians to enrol their children in school and not to engage them in any form of labour.

He said doing so would safeguard children’s physical, mental, social, and educational well-being.

Speaking at an event at Ntonsua in the Obuasi Municipality in the Ashanti Region to mark World Day against Child Labour, the Obuasi MCE said the assembly had put in place measures to curb the incidence of child labour in the municipality.

Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially, and morally harmful. According to international law, a child is defined as any person who is below the age of 18.

World Day against Child Labour is observed on June 12 each year to commemorate and raise awareness of the plight of child labourers, especially those who are subjected to the worst forms of child labour (WFCL).

The 2021 Population and Housing Census (PHC) report by the Ghana Statistical Service revealed that 419,254 children aged 5 to 17 are engaged in economic activity in the country.

Of this number, 76,439 are aged 5 to 9, 153,189 are aged 10 to 14, and 189,626 are aged 15 to 17.

The global theme for this year’s celebration was “Social Justice for All, End Child Labour!” while the national theme was “Intensify Action against Child Labour; Do It Fast, Do It Now”.

Mr. Adansi-Bonah said the Municipal Child Protection Committee had been tasked to undertake a monthly monitoring exercise to ensure that those involved in child labour were brought to book.

“Parents who are found to be engaging their children in child labour will be dealt with according to the law,” he stated.

Mr. Adansi-Bonah said studies had revealed that children in the Obuasi Municipality engage in galamsey and other activities such as farming and street hawking in order to contribute to their family’s income and to provide for themselves some basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter at the expense of their education.

“Children who engage in work beyond their capabilities are more likely to report late to school, experience fatigue, and lose concentration in the classroom, resulting in poor performance on their overall academic scorecard. A child is meant to learn, not to earn, so the school should be their only workplace. Children deserve to hold books and not bricks, to hold pens and not shovels,” he added.

The Obuasi Station Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Chief Inspector Josephine Adom Attakorah, cited poverty as the root cause of child labour.

“Poverty is certainly the greatest single force driving children into the workplace. When families cannot afford to meet their basic needs like food, water, education, or health care, they have no choice but to send their children to work to supplement the household income,” she said.

She disclosed that DOVVSU was working assiduously with relevant agencies to reduce the incidence of child labour in Obuasi by enforcing the laws and intensifying education on the need to stop child labour.