ARE ALL CHILDREN TRULY PRIORITIZED?
The vast number of social issues Ghana experiences is one that is enough to cause sleeplessness to many of its citizens.
One of these issues is the lack of well-defined child welfare practice systems. It is an eyesore to witness the number of children in rural communities who stay at home or have meted out to them tasks and activities meant for adults. These children engage in dangerous fishing expeditions, mining activities, amongst many others. Some of these children are even sold to some of these unassuming individuals who promise the parents of taking their children to school and making their lives better.
Which parent wouldn’t want a better life for his or her child? If these parents are also illiterates, how do they verify the truth these individuals come to say, especially with most of them coming from communities so farther away that there is no humanly possible way to ascertain the truth? If these welfare systems are put in place with every single child in mind regardless of their location or ethnicity, these children will not be swimming in various cycles of child abuse. These children who go through such hardships and brutality do not have the slightest idea of what it means to be a child and to enjoy it. They are taught the dynamics of navigating adulthood as children and unfortunately pass this on to their children and generations unborn till some form of education or change is effected.
A well-thought-out plan and an active system that is fair to all children regardless of their location, tribe, financial status, family background and religion must be instituted at vantage points so that these children can report any form of abuse to them. Children must be intentionally taught their rights and what abuse is so that they can recognize it when it happens and know what steps to take. People who work at such institutions must be thoroughly educated on the importance of children welfare and be ready to help at all costs when they see something happening. Their job isn’t only to sit in their offices and put all their plans on paper. They need to go out and see. Seeing does the job better.
The future of any country is its children and if these children aren’t adequately taken care of and prioritized, then the country is doomed.