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Network of Men Leaders to End VAW
Jun 19, 2014, 7:13:25 AM6/19/14
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African Centre for Leadership Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) today joins the world, as it celebrates June 16 the Day of the African Child – a day that was set aside 23 years ago by the African Union, then the OAU, in line with resolution CM/Res. 1290 (XL), to remember and commemorate the livesof the innocent children who were massacred in the Soweto uprising of 1976, while demanding their rights to racism-free education, in the then apartheid South Africa.
The commemoration of the Day of the African Child gives us the opportunity to reflect on the plight of children in Africa with special focus on Nigeria. It is a day for us all to think about those children who are caught in conflict or trapped in abuse and exploitation, and about the daily violations of their basic rights as children, as well as to think about the future of a hopeful African society in the midst of this chaos. Thus, the Day provides us the space and opportunity to mobilize all our efforts towards the welfare of children, who constitute the backbone of our continent’s future.
More than just a commemoration, the Day of the African Child seeks to draw the attention of all actors involved in improving the condition of children on the continent and to unite their efforts to combat the ills that plague the daily lives of children. It is also an occasion for Governments, international institutions and communities to deal with this delicate condition of children by organizing activities to promote the rights of the child.
The theme of the 2014 Day of the African Children chosen by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is: “A child-friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa”
Its general objective is to call the attention of African governments to their responsibilities in respect of ensuring children’s right to education in accordance with the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Children’s Charter).
The 2014 theme is even more significant in light of the fact that the North East part of Nigeria and it’s uprising which is in protest of western education especially targeted at girls. It is further significant in the sense that the theme is on one of the most important rights of the child, the key to appreciating and utilizing all other rights. Education, in the broader sense, is of prime significance in the communication of that which is central to the transformation of the human mind and yet even with the already set back faced more gap is provided. Through education children learn to cope with their immediate environment and life’s challenges; are equipped to understand the world around them and how to access knowledge, skills and information which may provide them with the means of earning a living.
A cursory look at the ‘Education Statistics 2013/2014” of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education shows that Nigeria, as a State Party to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, is striving tremendously to fulfill children’s right to education. Access to basic education has improved in leaps and bounds-a school is “not yet” within the reach of every child. The Gross Enrollment Rate at the Lower Basic level is 67.1 per cent and the gender gap has widened greatly especially with the state of unsafe schools in Northern Nigeria.
To consolidate the gains made in the provision of basic education, however, we should all ensure that those factors that impede children’s access to education or totally deny them that right are removed. Child marriage, corporal punishment, unavailability of sanitary facilities and or sanitary towels, and violence and sexual abuse and harassment in and around the school can lead children to drop out of school. We should also ensure that vulnerable children, in particular children with disabilities, enjoy their right to education in full. A school is only truly child-friendly when both boys and girls find it a safe, welcoming and healthful environment, centered on the rights of the child, where teachers demonstrate respect for those rights and where students discover that education is not only relevant to their lives but also a source of joy.
The ability to claim and enjoy the rights of an informed and responsible citizen rests squarely on a child’s access to a good basic education. A quality education- one that encourages children’s participation and critical thinking and is infused with the values of peace and human dignity- has the power to transform societies in a single generation.
Furthermore, as we commemorate this year’s day of the African Child let us remember that the fulfillment of a child’s right to education offers protection from a multitude of hazards, such as a life consigned to poverty, bonded labour in agriculture or industry, domestic labour, commercial sexual exploitation or recruitment into armed conflict. Investing in children’s education is therefore the surest, most direct way a country can promote its own economic and social welfare and lay the foundation for a prosperous and developed society. Julius Nyerere aptly said “Education is not a way of escaping the country’s poverty; it is a way of fighting it.” Today we remember Chibok Girls’ we pressure on from all quarters to BringBackOurGirls: Safe, Now and Alive.
Issued by: Ngozi Izuora
Women’s Right Officer
African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD)
08064015293
@Nizuora
The commemoration of the Day of the African Child gives us the opportunity to reflect on the plight of children in Africa with special focus on Nigeria. It is a day for us all to think about those children who are caught in conflict or trapped in abuse and exploitation, and about the daily violations of their basic rights as children, as well as to think about the future of a hopeful African society in the midst of this chaos. Thus, the Day provides us the space and opportunity to mobilize all our efforts towards the welfare of children, who constitute the backbone of our continent’s future.
More than just a commemoration, the Day of the African Child seeks to draw the attention of all actors involved in improving the condition of children on the continent and to unite their efforts to combat the ills that plague the daily lives of children. It is also an occasion for Governments, international institutions and communities to deal with this delicate condition of children by organizing activities to promote the rights of the child.
The theme of the 2014 Day of the African Children chosen by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child is: “A child-friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa”
Its general objective is to call the attention of African governments to their responsibilities in respect of ensuring children’s right to education in accordance with the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Children’s Charter).
The 2014 theme is even more significant in light of the fact that the North East part of Nigeria and it’s uprising which is in protest of western education especially targeted at girls. It is further significant in the sense that the theme is on one of the most important rights of the child, the key to appreciating and utilizing all other rights. Education, in the broader sense, is of prime significance in the communication of that which is central to the transformation of the human mind and yet even with the already set back faced more gap is provided. Through education children learn to cope with their immediate environment and life’s challenges; are equipped to understand the world around them and how to access knowledge, skills and information which may provide them with the means of earning a living.
A cursory look at the ‘Education Statistics 2013/2014” of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education shows that Nigeria, as a State Party to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, is striving tremendously to fulfill children’s right to education. Access to basic education has improved in leaps and bounds-a school is “not yet” within the reach of every child. The Gross Enrollment Rate at the Lower Basic level is 67.1 per cent and the gender gap has widened greatly especially with the state of unsafe schools in Northern Nigeria.
To consolidate the gains made in the provision of basic education, however, we should all ensure that those factors that impede children’s access to education or totally deny them that right are removed. Child marriage, corporal punishment, unavailability of sanitary facilities and or sanitary towels, and violence and sexual abuse and harassment in and around the school can lead children to drop out of school. We should also ensure that vulnerable children, in particular children with disabilities, enjoy their right to education in full. A school is only truly child-friendly when both boys and girls find it a safe, welcoming and healthful environment, centered on the rights of the child, where teachers demonstrate respect for those rights and where students discover that education is not only relevant to their lives but also a source of joy.
The ability to claim and enjoy the rights of an informed and responsible citizen rests squarely on a child’s access to a good basic education. A quality education- one that encourages children’s participation and critical thinking and is infused with the values of peace and human dignity- has the power to transform societies in a single generation.
Furthermore, as we commemorate this year’s day of the African Child let us remember that the fulfillment of a child’s right to education offers protection from a multitude of hazards, such as a life consigned to poverty, bonded labour in agriculture or industry, domestic labour, commercial sexual exploitation or recruitment into armed conflict. Investing in children’s education is therefore the surest, most direct way a country can promote its own economic and social welfare and lay the foundation for a prosperous and developed society. Julius Nyerere aptly said “Education is not a way of escaping the country’s poverty; it is a way of fighting it.” Today we remember Chibok Girls’ we pressure on from all quarters to BringBackOurGirls: Safe, Now and Alive.
Issued by: Ngozi Izuora
Women’s Right Officer
African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD)
08064015293
@Nizuora
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