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The Atwima Nwabiagya Municipal Health Promoter, Eunice Nti, has appealed to parents to desist from encouraging their children to engage in work that could endanger their lives and also deprive them of their childhood.

She asked the parents to be concerned about the education of their children and encouraged them to go to school rather than engage in activities to earn an income. She said a high number of children in the district were engaged in illegal mining while others were also engaged in fishing at the expense of their education and the parents seemed to be unconcerned.

She said some of the activities were very dangerous even for adults and not to talk about children and said it was the responsibility of the parents to ensure they stopped the kids from engaging in such activities.

Word Day Against Child Labour
Ms Nti, who was speaking at a durbar organised by Winrock International, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), at Nerebehi to commemorate this year’s World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL), which is celebrated on June 12, noted that children who were engaged in fishing were exposed to a skin infection, which had become common in the district.

This year’s celebration was on the theme: ‘Let’s Act on Our Commitments: End Child Labour’, and was marked by a float by pupils from communities within Atwima Nwabiagya to create awareness on child labour, a quiz among schools to test their knowledge on child labour and a drama on the subject.

It was organised by Winrock International in partnership with four cocoa farmers associations, namely Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, Kokoo Pa Farmers Association, Offinso Fine Flavour Cocoa Cooperative and Hiawu Besease Cooperative where Winrock is implementing the MATE MASIE Project.

Making Advances to Eliminate Child Labour in More Areas with Sustainable Integrated Efforts (MATE MASIE) is a four-year project being implemented in four districts in the Ashanti Region to combat child labour and to build the capacity of cooperatives to support vulnerable member households both directly and by linking their members with other service providers.

It is funded by the United States (US) Department of Labour’s Bureau of International Labour Affairs.

Importance
Addressing the durbar, the Deputy Director of MATE MASIE Project, Reynolds Kisiedu, said the theme was to remind all of the commitment made to end the menace of child labour in the world, particularly in Africa.

He said despite the dangers of the practice, child labour was still ongoing in the country and called on all stakeholders to join forces to end it. He said over the years, the project had built the capacity of the cooperatives where it was operating and supported vulnerable households with inputs to reduce the temptations of engaging their under-aged children in hazardous work to the detriment of their education.

He said the project also organised training for the communities and enhanced the capacities of the cooperatives and district child protection committees in addressing child labour.