Mrs Joyce Boahen, Principal Investigator of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has called on Ghanaian children to use the rights offered them under the constitution judiciously to benefit them, the society and the entire nation.

Speaking on the topic; “child’s rights and responsibilities”, at a children’s conference held in Tema on Monday, she said even though children have their rights it should not be misused to show disrespect to authority and elders.

The first in a series, the conference was organised by “Monton Heights”, a NGO based in Tema for selected Junior and Senior High school students in Tema and Ashaiman had its theme “the keys for the growing child”. It was aimed at empowering children at an early stage to become controllers of their future choices.

He warned that by law, the child’s rights can be limited if he or she fails to respect the rights of others and therefore advised them to lead upright lives by going about their duties courteously as this receives the Lord’s blessing.

To instill discipline and moral decency in children, the Principal Investigator stressed the need for parents and guardians to help mould their character through proper upbringing.

The moral decency would enable them determine the right from the wrong and follow the right and respectable standard of behaviour in society, wondering why these days children fail to greet adults they meet or help in carrying their loads.

Mrs Boahen said under the rights of the child, children should not be deprived of basic education or subjected to labour that affect their health and general well-being as the neglect is punishable by law.

She made it clear that acting under the term “the child’s next friend”, neighbours also have the right to report inhuman situation meted out to children to the authorities for action to be taken.

Ms Joyce Aryee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM) who spoke on the topic: “the keys for the growing child”, called on parents and guardians to collaborate with teachers to help children develop their potentials.

She said children needed direction in the home and at school to identify their hidden talents for nurturing and this could be achieved with the active involvement of both parents and teachers who have this onerous responsibility.

She pointed out that laxity on the two partners has the tendency for the children to grow up with disappointed careers and bad behaviours which could impact negatively on their lives, the society and the nation as a whole.

Ms Aryee likened the situation to gold in the ground which if not explored would be worthless and so impressed on the two to put in much efforts to bring up the best in children to enable the nation to have responsible future adults and leaders.

“Parents can nurture children’s positive self-esteem by helping them discover what they are good at which should be at the early stages so that they can achieve their full potential”.

She said however, that parents should not necessarily be educated themselves or rich but it required their time to help the children learn and improve their ability to think, communicate and be creative as well as letting them know the impact of success on their lives and society as a whole.

While urging parents to create conducive atmosphere for learning in the home, finding mentors to assist in developing their talents as well as serve as role models for academic achievement she also advised them to visit their schools to monitor their performance.

Mr. Eric Asempah, Business Development Officer of the Monton Heights noted that children learn faster in their formative stage but unfortunately in Africa they are unable to exercise their potentials at the prime learning age.

He attributed this to varied factors such as lack of proper training and direction, low self esteem, poor self confidence, negative environmental influences, family negligence, poor upbringing and wrong information.

The Officer called for the support of all stakeholders to help them unearth their talents to improve their lot in future.

Mr. Asempah said the conference, which would be a continuous programme aimed at enhancing the perspective and outlook of children through a transformational training environment to enable them build their potentials and capabilities.


Source: GNA