Teachers attend workshop on child labour

Ajumako (C/R) April 19, GNA - A three-day training of trainers' workshop towards seeking pupils participation in stemming child labour opened at the Ghana Education Service Development Institute (GESDI) at Ajumako on Tuesday.

The workshop is geared towards the implementation of the Supporting Children's Rights through the Arts and the Media (SCREAM), an International Labour Organisation (ILO) programme to involve children in child labour prevention programmes.

It is under the theme "SCREAM methodology and tools for child participation against child labour" and is being attended by 38 basic school teachers drawn from southern and northern sectors. Organised by ILO in collaboration with the Ghana government, it is primarily aimed at mobilizing the Ghanaian society to fight child labour essentially through awareness raising campaigns involving the vulnerable children and community participation.

In an address Ms Josephine Kuffour-Duah, Co-ordinator SCREAM, said the basic education division of the Ghana Education Service (GES) is being supported to adapt the SCREAM methodology to the Ghanaian context and integrate it into teaching materials used for civic education at the primary and junior secondary school levels. She said school heads and teachers from about 20 districts of education are being trained towards the implementation of SCREAM. Children and the youth will be educated on the negative effects of child labour and equipped with the requisite skills to intensify awareness.

Mrs Kuffour-Duah said in addition, key opinion leaders, journalists, religious and political leaders and institutions like Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and social partners have been identified and equipped with awareness - raising and social mobilization skills.

Mrs Victoria Donkor, the Director of the Basic Education division of the GES who opened the workshop, appealed to the participants to work hard to eliminate child labour in schools.

Mr Patrick Asare-Nelson, ILO/IPEC programme officer, said since the government ratified the ILO Convention 182, seven years ago it has been working in conjunction with the ILO to put in place interventions to eliminate the "worse forms of child labour".