Play and Learn Foundation calls for more support to save street children

Executive Director of Play and Learn Foundation, Nana Kwasi Ohene, has called on non-governmental organizations to join forces with the government to support street children across the country.

According to him, NGOs should help to augment government’s efforts to support children on the streets.

Speaking on the sidelines of the celebration of this year’s World Children’s Day, which was marked under the theme, “Investing In Our Future Means Investing In Our Children,” Mr. Ohene added that there is a need for organizations to come together and train children on the streets.

He said such a move will help equip them with enough skills for the job market and the changing economy.

Kwasi Ohene also mentioned some initiatives his outfit is carrying out to support individuals living on the streets.

“The question is, why do they go back to the streets? That’s one thing that I feel we need to ask ourselves. The idea was to work with other departments and organisations to take some of these people off the streets and give them skills,” he stated.

Meanwhile, he revealed that many children, despite having family members caring for them, choose to live on the streets.

“We realized that some of these children are not necessarily born on the street. They leave their villages, their parents, and come to the streets of Accra. They have people that care for them but they run away. So, the question is why they do that,” he quizzed.

He finally stressed on the need to do more research into the phenomenon as this would give enough knowledge to stakeholders in order to salvage the situation.

“If it is a research that we need to do, we need to ask them the reason why they run away; because that would help us solve some of the problems,” he said.

World Children’s Day, established in 1954 as Universal Children’s Day, and celebrated on November 20 each year, seeks to honour children to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improve children’s welfare.