Adansi West Assembly imposes curfew on children.

The Adansi West District Assembly at its meeting on Friday imposed a night curfew on all children below the age of 18 years as part of measures to get the children to stay at home to study.

The curfew starts from 2000 hours to 0500 each day and takes immediate effect and is aimed at arresting the falling academic standards, especially among the public schools and also help to reduce child labour in the district.

It is again designed to prevent teenage pregnancies and reduce truancy and crime wave among the youth.

For a start the assembly has approved a levy of 100,000 cedis to be imposed on irresponsible parents or guardians whose children or wards are caught in Obuasi during the curfew hours.

The imposition of the levy would be extended to Akrokerri, Akrofuom, Ampunyasi, Dompoasi and Fomena that are headquarters of area councils after some time.

The imposition of the curfew came about following the submission of reports to the general assembly by the Justice and Security Sub-Committee and that of the Executive Committee on the need to control children at night.

Mr Joseph Kwadwo Boampong, District Chief Executive, during the discussion on the curfew impressed upon the assembly members to maintain 2000 hours as the starting hour since the academic standards in most schools in the district was bad.

"The Regional Minister's visit to some communities in the district recently revealed that our schools are not performing well and if we do not take care we will not get future assembly members like you", Mr Boampong stressed.

When an assembly member wanted to know the fate of a child, who had been sent by the father to go out to buy a cigarette during the hours of the curfew, the Presiding Member, Mr Stephen Kwarteng condemned such errands saying; "It is unacceptable for parents to send their children out for cigarette, alcoholic beverages and the like".

The assembly, however, agreed that children who are accompanied by their parents during the period are exempted.

It also accepted that a special taskforce should be set up at Obuasi while volunteers would be recruited in other communities to enforce the curfew.