The Widows and Orphans Movement in collaboration with Action Aid Ghana have held a durbar of parents and students from the Talensi and Nabdam Districts to create awareness on issues of Gender Based Violence, unpaid care workers and the neglect of the basic needs of children by parents.
Eight girl child clubs and some parents from the two districts were brought together at the Gani Asonge basic school where the students demonstrated some of the Gender Based issues that are affecting them through drama.
The Girl Child Coordinators from the two district education directorates took turns to educate parents on their responsibilities to their children.
” The little I want to add as an advice to our parents is that pranets should not push their responsibilities to teachers alone. I once visited a school and parents were telling teachers to discipline their children for them. If you the parent cannot discipline your children, how do you expect the teachers alone to do that for you? The students through their drama have demonstrated that parents who neglect or do not provide their basic needs of their children usually have their children engaging in some vices to meet their needs which have the tendency to compromise their future.”
The parents were advised to regularly visit the school of their children to get update on how the children are performing and to know if the children indeed go to school. All this will guarantee a brighter future for the children.
“apart from providing the basic needs of the child, parents must always visit the schools to know if the children indeed go to school and how they are performing.”
Another issue of concern to the educators, was the issue of children leaving school to do galamsey and children staying out long to attend social events like the “passing out” ceremonies of trades women.
” We have to stop pushing our children to go and do galamsey to bring money home. No! It is the responsibility of parents to take care of children and not children taking care of parents. We should rather guide the children to attain good education for a better future. Again, children should not be allowed to stay out late attending social events. What business has children at “passing out events? They should rather be sleeping. Sometimes parents don’t even know the whereabout of their wards, which is bad.”
Sanitary pads, books and other stationery were distributed to the studenst. The winners of the drama competition also received various awards.
By: Simon Agana Blessing/mywordfmonline.com