Cape Coast, April 14, GNA- Mrs. Ivy Amartey, the Central Regional Director of the Department of Children, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has called on all stakeholders to contribute their quota to ensure that the safety of children is prioritized.
She said all people must maximize their efforts in seeing an end to abuse, trafficking, sex trade, exploitation and a host of other vices meted out to children of all ages in the country.
She made the call at the Department ‘s first quarter meeting in Cape Coast, cautioning that the internet was an unsafe place for children because it exposed them to inappropriate contents arousing their interest and curiosity to venture into unhealthy activities.
Mrs Amartey said the Department was therefore, taking steps to educate and comprehensively sensitize both children and particularly, parents on the need to restrict access to bad internet contents to their wards, adding that the mobile phone could be “bad masters” too.
Mrs. Beatrice Asirifi, the Regional Public Health Nurse, said adolescents in the region now have deeper understanding on the need to access family planning, owing to the continued sensitization by the Ghana Health Service.
She said some schools have also established adolescent health clubs, where health workers were assigned to give regular adolescent health talks.
“These strategies are working for us, and we know that in a brief period the issue of sexual exploitation many of which leads to teenage pregnancy would be reduced drastically,” she said.
Mr. Joe Yawson Bentum, Regional Welfare Secretary of the Ghana Private Road Transport Unions (GPRTU), pledged the Unions resolve to prioritize issues of child safety and protection as it was a big worry to drivers.
He recommended that the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies must enact by-laws to sanction children who loiter around lorry stations during school hours.
He said some children, usually seen around bus stations have intentions of bolting away to different cities or towns while others were introduced to robbery and petty theft.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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