Discourage Child Labour, Deputy Minister Tells Assemblies

Sansama (Brong Ahafo), 20 Oct. Mr Kwame Kyere, Deputy Minister of Education, has called on district assemblies to discourage child labour in their areas by enacting by-laws to prosecute parents who engage their children in commercial activities during school hours. He observed with concern the growing phenomenon of children taking to trading at the expense of their education and stressed the need for it to be checked to enhance the attainment of the objectives of the free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) programme. Mr Kyere was speaking at the commissioning of a 90 million-cedi six-classroom block and a workshop for the Adventist Preparatory and junior secondary school at Sansama, near Techiman, yesterday. The Danish embassy provided 77 million cedis for the project with the seventh day Adventist (SDA) church and the community bearing the rest. Mr Kyere said the government is committed to the effective implementation of the FCUBE programme and appealed to teachers and other educational workers to complement this by accepting posting to rural areas where their services are most needed. He said the programme would not succeed without expansion in classroom facilities and therefore commended the Danish embassy and the SDA church for their assistance.