Disadvantaged children need protection

Lazarus Sauti

Cities and towns across Africa are full of school-going children who are either begging or selling illicit products such as tobacco cigarettes and illicit beers.

Others are busy sifting the refuse scavenging for recyclable food to put on the family tables.

Whether selling beer or tobacco cigarettes in stadiums or at entrances to beer gardens, the sad thing is that all of them had allegedly been assigned these duties and heavy responsibilities by their parents and/or guardians.

More so, these children should be at school; working hard to chase dreams of their lives and interacting with children of their age.

Communities within and across the African continent are not protecting these disadvantaged children.

What happened to the adage, “It takes a village (community) to raise a child?

A considerable number of children in and around the African continent are suffering in silence and are unaware who to turn to for help after all kinds of barefaced abuses such as statutory rape, child labour, psychological abuse and a cancer called traditional belief based rituals.

Orphans and other vulnerable children especially children of persons with disabilities are among the worst affected because they are exposed to indecent ways of living such as begging in most public places in African cities and towns.

Honestly, something needs to be done to protect these children from any form of abuse.

Disadvantaged children – orphans and other vulnerable children need the voice of parents, guardians, villages and African governments to be protected.

Accordingly, it is the responsibility of African governments to consider and affording disadvantaged children with basic education since it is a universal right.

This means African governments should establish a funding for all the disadvantaged children of school going age and make sure that they are at school.

Ministries of education in countries within and across the African continent should lead this battle.

As important stakeholders in the education sector, they should look after African children; improve education systems and build more educational institutions to provide for all disadvantaged children.

Furthermore, parents and guardians must be in charge for the upkeep of their children.

They should jealously guard their children since children are gifts from God.

Since the protection of children requires a multisectoral approach, civic organisation including non-governmental organisation should lobby for children’s rights; and champion, defend and promote the rights of children.

To effectively fight for and protect children from abuse, African governments must support the efforts of civic organisations, non-governmental organisations, charity institutions and other faith based organisations formed to protect children from abuse.

It is sad to note that some non-governmental and charity organisations that used to lobby for children’s rights in most African countries have since closed due to under-funding of their projects and programmes thereby living orphans and other vulnerable children exposed to the dangers of all forms of abuse.

Business organisations in Africa should therefore play their crucial part in funding projects that enhance the protection of children from any form of abuse.

Corporations in Africa must also aid parents and guardians of orphans and vulnerable children by paying school fees of disadvantaged children.

Most children have turned in to drugs after being exposed to indecent and immoral behaviour.

Consequently, concerned citizens, lobby organisations and African governments must work together and pass deterrent sentences when passing judgments on all offenders of child abuse cases.

Children are precious and future leaders of the African continent.

Therefore, they should be protected from abuse.