Bolga Municipal lacks recreational facilities for youth

The lack of recreational facilities in the Bolgatanga Municipality and its environs has been identified as one of the major factors leading to the social vices among the youth in the area.

The only Children’s Park in the Municipality is not functional and that has resulted in the aimless loitering of children and youth mostly at the weekends leading them to engage in social vices in the area.

To help address the problem, the Restorative Seed Society, a non-governmental organisation, since April 2015, has initiated a number of pragmatic measures including organising periodic visits to tourist sites and Inter-Schools debates among basic schools in the Municipality.

It has also introduced computer games that aid learning, while allowing children to play and share with their colleagues.

Speaking at an Inter Schools debate organized by the Regional Library in Bolgatanga, the Executive Director of Restorative Seed Society, Mr Hillary Adongo, regretted that lack of recreational facilities was not only limited to the Bolgatanga Municipality, but almost all the thirteen districts in the Region had a similar problem.

He called on authorities to ensure that they provided befitting standards of recreational facilities in their respective areas, to prevent children from engaging in social vices, and appealed to other NGOs and philanthropists to help support the cause.

“The youth especially school children are the society’s most precious assets and investing in them must be a matter of priority. Government and other stakeholders like NGOs must be conscious of the need to support young people to become more valuable to the country and their communities,” he stressed.

Mr Adongo stated that society expected behavioural change from young people and called on them to take their personal development seriously.

He indicated that as an organisation that promoted the principles of Social Entrepreneurship, Restorative Seed Society, believed that Social Entrepreneurship was the future for young people, since Government’s capacity to employ was limited.

He gave the assurance that the Restorative Seed Society with its little resources would continue with its activities of engaging the youth but was also ready to partner with any organisation that had the same vision.

Mr Yen Nyeya, Director, Centre for Skills Training, who called on parents to invest in their children’s education, entreated the students to concentrate on their studies instead of migrating to the southern parts of the country in search of non-existing jobs.

The debate which was on the topic “Youth Rural-Urban Migration, The Parent is at fault,” saw seven schools participating in the competitions.

They included the Sacred Heart JHS, Awogeya JHS, Anglican JHS, Watania JHS, Mount Sinai JHS, Methodist JHS and Presbyterian JHS all in the Bolgatanga Municipality.

The Methodist Junior High School won at the finals, followed by Presbyterian Junior High School.