Bringing the plight of the African Child to the Fore
Global
attention is today focussed on the plight of the African child and efforts
directed towards ameliorating their predicaments. Since 1991, June 16 every
year has been observed as the International Day of the African Child. It is a
day set aside to celebrate the life of African children.
The
Day was set aside by the defunct organisation of African Unity (now African
Union) in remembrance of the massacre of innocent children and adults who
participated in June 16 Soweto uprising in apartheid south Africa in 1976. On
that day, some children who joined a marched in protest of the declining
quality of education and demanded their rights to be taught in their native
languages were shot and killed. The day was established to mark not only the
courage and sacrifice of those in Soweto but to give a voice to the plight
African children.
Each
year, a particular issue of significance to the African child is assigned for
the world to especially direct attention at. This year’s theme is: planning and
budget for children, our collective responsibility. The imperative for joint
initiatives in planning and scheduled budgets for projects pertaining to
African children was underscored by statistics revealing that about thirty
eight million children across the continent still remain out of school. Data
also show that as many as fifty thousand African children under the age of five
will lose their lives as a result of preventable or curable diseases. These
figures are staggering and urgent steps are no doubt needed, to address the
situation.
Children
of Africa’s fifty four countries are all unique and diverse; nonetheless they
share the same struggle for daily survival, as diseases is often rampant., with
child labour and deployment of children for combat as child soldiers are common
on the continent, their diversity aside the children of Africa are often
displaced by force of urbanization than any other continent. They suffer more
than any other nations from HIV/AIDS. Education is a right all too often missed while child labour and trafficking
often surpasses its demand.
Child
survival, protection and development are not only universal aspirations
enshrined in the millennium Development Goals; they are also human rights issues
ratified in the international convention on the Rights of children and the
African charter on the rights and welfare of the child. Thus, investing in the
health and education of African children is a sound economic decision and one
of the surest ways for a country to secure its future.
Although
the official MDGs 2008 report show that there is widespread progress in primary
school enrolment, fees for items such as uniforms, stationery and meals as well
as reduction in armed conflict however,
lack of birth registration, child labour
and HIV/AIDS still keep about thirty eight million African children of primary
school age out of school. Reports paint a grimmer picture of conditions for
girls as more devastating, the higher the ladder of education, the wider their
rate of dropout.
Collective
efforts at planning and budgeting would no doubt ensure that vulnerable and
marginalised children are enrolled and remained in school. The step will propel
governments to embark on targeted programmes and interventions, such as setting
up satellite schools in remote areas, eliminating school fees, providing school
meals, ensuring a safe school environment and promoting later marriage. It has
also been proven that political commitment plays a significant role in addressing
the challenges confronting the African child today. Countries like Rwanda,
Malawi Zambia, Uganda, Kenya and Ghana are good cases.
Malawi
for example has moved from being a country devastated by hunger to a regional
food supplier in recent years. It is second to Costa Rica globally in reducing
child mortality by more than three quarters in the past years. Zambia has made
great strides in HIV testing, prevention and education after late president
Levy Mwanawasa declared a national emergency in 2004. By the end of the year he
had surpassed his goal of providing thousands of its citizens with
antiretroviral treatment.
When
it seemed impossible for pastoral communities in Kenya to access education, the
government designed mobile classrooms in which the children of nomads access
education as they wander about in search of water and pasture for their cattle.
Other
African countries should take a cue from these examples by giving children the
attention they deserve. Governments on the continent should summon the political
will to address the plight of children. More so as it has unarguably been
proven that any country that neglects the wellbeing of its children does so at
its peril.
BY
GARBA .A. USMAN
U14/MCM/2016
KUW/MCM/Group/20