The Africa Education Watch has called on government to intensify efforts to make basic education more accessible to children, especially those in rural communities.

According to the group, despite efforts to make free basic education more accessible, there are many children who cannot still have a feel of the classroom.

In a statement on Sunday, the Africa Education Watch noted that "Seventeen (17) years, after implementing FCUBE, about 1.2 million children are still not in school, according to the Ghana Statistical Service".

The group therefore called on government to "revisit FCUBE and re-commit to making basic education free, universally accessible and compulsory for all Ghanaian children by increasing capital investments and financing of public basic education".

Noting its concerns, the statement also added that: "Seventeen (17) years after implementing FCUBE, public basic education is still neither truly free, compulsory nor universally accessible to all Ghanaian children. Hidden fees, low government investment in building new schools and maintaining and operating existing ones, and poverty continue to hamper universal access".

The call by the Africa Education Watch comes on the back of this year's World Children's Day.

This year's edition fell on Sunday 20th November, 2022.

The theme for this year is 'inclusion for every child'.

The World Children's Day is an annual commemoration designed to highlight the difficulties of children, and how best such hurdles can be mitigated.

According to the UN, the World Children’s Day was first established in 1954 as Universal Children's Day and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare.

November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

It is also the date in 1989 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Since 1990, World Children's Day also marks the anniversary of the date that the UN General Assembly adopted both the Declaration and the Convention on children's rights.

Mothers and fathers, teachers, nurses and doctors, government leaders and civil society activists, religious and community elders, corporate moguls and media professionals, as well as young people and children themselves, are expected to play an important part in making World Children's Day relevant for their societies, communities and nations.