Significant headway is being made in the fight to provide adequate protection for children in cocoa growing communities in the Asante-Akim South District, with 150 out-of-school kids going back to the classroom.

This has come on the wings of the National Programme for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa (NPECLC), launched in the area about seven years ago.

Mr William Ansah Kwakye, the District Focal Person of the Programme, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that the progress of those children was being closely followed.

They are at Kurofa, Adomfe, Mmorso, Bompata, Ahyiresu, Atwedie, Yawkei, Banso, Dwendwenase, Tokwai-Odumase, Gyadam, Muronanmu, Dansabonso, Yaw-Barimah and Ofoase.

Mr Kwakye said engagement of children on cocoa farms and other harmful activities in these communities had dramatically gone down as child protection committees had been formed in each of them to keep the radar on child labour issues.

Awareness has been created among the people about the need to provide the opportunity for their children to pursue academic careers.

He said there had also been a deliberate effort to help the young people to become conscious of their responsibilities.

The GNA had visited the communities under STAR-Ghana’s media auditing and tracking of development projects, an initiative launched to put the spotlight on how government’s resources were helping to transform the lives of the people, particularly the rural population.

The goal is to aid transparency, promote accountability and good governance.

Mr Zachariah Ahmed, a member of the Dansabonso child protection committee, said people had gone beyond reporting child labour-related cases and were exposing defilement and other forms of physical violence.

This, he said, was a strong proof of how successful the programme had been in the district and expressed their determination to continue working hard to sustain the momentum.