Deputy Gender Minister commends Ejusiman School authorities for decision

Madame Freda Prempeh, Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has commended Ejisuman Senior High School authorities for their 'swift' decision on students who uploaded a video on social media using indecent words that border on sex.

The student were sacked from the boarding house effective February 6, 2020.

This, she said, was a timely action to prevent other students of the school to be influenced into such act.

The Deputy Minister made these remarks on the sidelines of the 1Billion Rising Children Campaign Against Abuse organised by IRise Ghana.

The Campaign is a platform to encourage children to speak up against all forms of violence perpetrated against them.

Mrs Prempeh, however, said raising responsible children was not just the duty of parents but schools and the community as a whole.

Using the Ejisuman Senior High School student’s viral video as a reference point, the Minister said there was the need for a collaborative effort among all stakeholders to curb such behaviours.

She encouraged children to make good use of smartphones and the internet and not to engage in vices.

She said gender-based violence against women and children did not only violate victims’ rights, but affected national development.

The Deputy Minister said the Ministry had developed legal frameworks such as the Child and Family Welfare and Justice for Children policies for child protection.

"Ghana has signed and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and other international instruments," she said.

She reiterated that the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals, to live no one behind, cannot be fulfilled without ending violence against women and children.

Ms Vickenzie Ofei, Director of IRise Ghana, said the 1Billion Rising was a global movement to end rape and sexual violence against women and children.

She said this was the second edition of the event in Ghana, saying, "We’re planning to extend this campaign to other regions of the country.

She encouraged the children to report anyone who touched them in sensitive ways and not feel shy of being stigmatized.

Ms Ofei said the movement was started in reaction to the alarming statistics that one in three women was either raped or beaten in her lifetime.

The event attracted students from basic schools including GraceLove Academy, Tiny Stars School, Class-Peter Memorial School, Pentecost Basic School and Royal Academy of Moral School.

The campaign name 1Billion Rising referred to the one in three women who either suffered rape or violence in her lifetime.