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| Ms Saratu Abubakar (Middle) |
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| Student from the SONR receiving her package |
Forty three out of 70 children that were
picked from the streets of Bolgatanga and taken through a nine month
complementary education programme by Afrikids Ghana have expressed their desire
to enjoy formal education. Others through effective monitoring and counselling
had been made to resettle with their families after taken to the streets to
engage in menial activities to sustain their livelihoods. The children who were
nurtured under Afrikid’s sponsored project
‘School of Night Rabbits’ (SONR) were taught basic numeracy and literacy
skills with wider set of social and health lessons including recreation. They
also had the opportunity to practically demonstrate their knowledge and skills,
hence their desire to go back home and enrol in school. At a graduation
ceremony held at Bolgatanga, the children were presented with school uniforms
and bags, pen and pencils, mathematical sets and other reading and writing
materials to whip their interest whilst enrolling at their various
schools. The lead supervisor at the
SONR, Saratu Abubakar said the secret to the success and attractiveness of the project
in recent years was the provision of goats to families of the children. This she
observed motivated most of the children to go back home and reunite with their
families. She disclosed that 24 out of the 43 graduants were already in school
but were not regular as they had to hustle daily on the streets after school
just to make a living. These children through the support of the project will
continue school uninterrupted. Arrangements, she however stated are being made
to find school for children that were already not in school. Other
interventions are underway to fish out those that left the school for urban
centres to be re-counselled. This according to her could be made possible since
such children have their bio data captured in Afrikid’s database system. Madam
Abubakar, commended Afrikids and its collaborators for their responsiveness and
appealed to other corporate bodies to support the school to achieve its set objectives.
The school she emphasised hopes to become a bigger centre for the creation of
awareness on the plight of street children stationed in Bolgatanga. A representative from Afrikids, David Pwalua,
commended the project volunteers, the GES and the GPRTU for their support over
the years. According to him, efforts are
being made to furnish the school with the necessary teaching and learning
materials to enable it function effectively. Mr Pwalua said Afrikids hopes to reach
out to children who through no fault of their, loiter on the streets to engage
in fruitless activities and also ensure that more children have access to basic
education. He therefore charged parents to complement the efforts of by being responsive
to the educational needs of their wards.
GBC
END
IA/
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