Stakeholders in children's welfare and upbringing in the Ashanti Region have proposed strict and enforced punishment for students who flout examination rules. 

The stakeholders made up of persons from the Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service, school children, civil society organizations involved in children's affairs, among others agreed that disregard exam rules had become an unfortunate phenomenon.

They agreed that if not treated by policymakers, examination malpractices can ruin the future of children and other younger generations.   

The stakeholders stated these at the 2020 validation workshop on Ghana’s 6th and 7th report on children to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in Kumasi.   

The workshop was organized by the Department of Children under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) mandated to file such reports to seek views of its stakeholders before the final submission to the UN after every five years.    

The participants also highlighted the need for the government to provide free treatment and support for children suffering from deadly diseases such as cancer and others.     

They expressed worry about how children living with one illness or another were tagged as cursed and witches and exposed to the public in the media.     

Such children should rather be provided with the needed care, love, and counselling to enable them to leave their normal lives, they added.   

Dr. Slyvester Kyei-Gyamfi, Head of Information Research and Advocacy Division of the Department of Children, reiterated the Ministry’s resolve to continue to provide the needed support and protect all children in the country.   

He said the Ministry was working to take stricter actions on issues regarding child marriages, which had been on the rise in some communities in the country.   

Dr. Kyei-Gyamfi said every child had the right to education, life, and speech, therefore, children should be offered more platforms to voice out issues bothering them.     

The school children in a presentation, called on parents to guide them for their holistic development.