Consequences Of Child Streetism On Development

Children roaming the streets of Accra is a common sight. Most of these children are out there fending for themselves, and they can be found especially around traffic light intercessions, especially around the Airport area and the Stanbic Heights and Silver Star Auto Buildings in Accra. Ironically, their numbers keep increasing by the day as they literally spend their day and night in the streets. These young ones are exposed to all manner of cruelty in the street, where they face abuse, indulge in prostitution, do drugs and are also exposed to the hazards of the weather. As to what sort of human beings these children would grow up to become, the least said about it the better, as some of them engage in criminal activities in all forms. The contribution of street children to Ghana’s socio-economic development will remain a mirage if the issue is not addressed. The ILO put the global figure of children involved in child labour at 152 million, which is about five times the population of Ghana. What is dire is that one in five children in Africa are trapped in some form of child labour or the other.

At a Media Launch of World Day Against Child Labour, the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Bright Wireko-Brobbey announced that the number of children who are into child labour in Ghana is alarming.” No doubt he called for swift policy intervention to increase awareness to tackle the problem. To help address the problem, the GBC has aired a number of exposes on the plight of these children, and the dangers they are exposed to on the streets, as well as the long-term impact on Ghana’s economy. Ten days after airing, one of such stories, the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection in collaboration with the police organized a swoop around the airport area and picked up 34 children from the streets to the Department of Social Welfare Foster Home at Madina. After that exercise, the authorities promised to continue with the swoops until the children are off the streets, but contrary to this assertion, the children are still on the streets fending for themselves, while the authorities seem to have gone to sleep. Sometime ago, the Gender Ministry said it was collating data, so as to know the number of children on the streets, to tackle the problem holistically. The question to the Minister is, what is happening or has happened to the data collected on Streetism?

The ILO launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. Each year on June 12, World Day Against Child Labour brings together governments, employers and workers organizations, civil society, as well as millions of people from around the world to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them. On this day we ask? What happened to the Gender Ministry’s plan to rid the streets of child beggars and those engaged in other forms of child labour? Critical of all the questions? where are the parents or families of these children found lurking in the streets, denied of schooling, proper nutrition, shelter and care and completely robbed of their childhood. This is simply a violation of human rights. A chunk of Ghana’s future human resource risks jeopardy if the right steps are not taken to ensure that the children are not working in the fields or streets, but rather working on their future dreams! It is imperative that the Department of Social Welfare prosecute parents who renege on their responsibilities. Bad parenting needless to state makes a child more prone to criminal behaviour. It can also lead to poor performance of the child in school. Evaluating parenting skills to know its effects on our children is very important. Once we bring children into this world, it is our responsibility to take good care of them. Let us say NO to Child Delinquency, Streetism and Child Labour!

BY: REBECCA EKPE, A JOURNALIST.