Educating Street Children in Ghana - Term Paper Example

Running Head: Educating Street Children in Ghana Name: University: Course: Tutor: Date: The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was intended to ensure that children of all ages and backgrounds are accorded basic rights that would enable them to support themselves when they get of age. Countries that ratified this convention are therefore obligated to adhere to specific standards, which include: ensuring that children are not discriminated against; that society devotes efforts to the best interests of youngsters; that the right to life, survival and development is protected; and that children’s views are respect and considered during policy development processes meet. Considering that not all countries can afford top quality services to the children, the convention contains some minimum standards that have to be attained; which is to ensure that children’s development process is guaranteed at all times. In terms of education, the minimum standards (contained in Article 28) ensure that all children receive the basic primary education. Overall, the minimum standards ensure that civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of children are protected and promoted in the society. The country of Ghana, which will be studied in this paper, is among the nations which ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It was actually the first state to ratify the convention (UNCRC 1997).The country is therefore bound to upholding the standards set in the convention, all for the benefit of Ghana’s children. Despite some successes that Ghanaian children have reaped since the convention ratification, most of street children in the country seem to have been forgotten in this all important process. It is therefore necessary for authorities in Ghana to consider fresh social policies that will address the needs of this needy and helpless group of the country’s young generations. The most effective way using UNCRC to help street children would be that of increasing educational opportunities, which will ensure the long run benefit of both the country and the neediest children in society. Ghana has a large population of street children who desperately need help to overcome the challenges they face in their lives. As of 1996, the capital city, Accra, had 10,000 street children whose age was between 10 and 18 (Fayorsey 1996). The rising population of these kids in the capital and other towns provides challenges to the Ghanaian policy makers who need to provide solutions for this innocent population. Through the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC), the government has been developing and implementing policies directed at helping needy children to get education. The government has also established the ministry of Women and Children Affairs, which is currently tasked with spearheading the implementation of policies. GNCC also falls under this ministry. One of the programs developed to help street children include the Child Cannot Wait; it intends to collaborate with the private sector and Non-Governmental organisations (Ghana Ministry of Women and Youth Affairs 2008). This program is designed with the intention of providing all Ghanaian children with opportunities to access education inn par with the standards set by the Convention. For instance, all children in Ghana are provided with the opportunity to get basic primary education. With respect to street children, the ministry developed the Draft Street Children in Ghana Policy Framework, which provided guidelines on how the needs of this group should be addressed (Ghana MWYA 2008). The goal is to make all Ghanaian children part and parcel of the country’s future economic prosperity. The government has made sure that Ghanaian people are aware of the goals regarding the need to ensure that street children are taken through basic education, which will increase the possibility of attaining secondary and tertiary education levels (International Monetary Fund 1999). Policy makers have been using the Ministry of Local Governments to ensure that street children located in different municipalities, especially the ones in rural areas receive educational help needed to attain the Convention’s minimum standard of education (Ghana MWYA 2008). The municipalities are required to ensure that street children are cleared off the streets and sent to necessary educational facilities. It, however, happens that most of Ghana’s street children have homes in slums; some of them loam during the day and retreat to their shanties in the evening. In such satiations, municipalities have been ensuring that schools located in low income areas are meeting the needs of the poor. This is done through the elimination of extra costs that could be keeping these children out of school; these include uniforms, textbooks, and lunch meals among others. Such measures have become effective preventative techniques of reducing the exodus of needy children form their homes to town streets. Municipalities are also encouraged to involve street children in dialogue. This leads to better knowledge among municipal officials regarding the possible reasons for the children to leave home, and what their goals on gaining education. Being part of the solution process enables street children to feel that someone is taking care of their plight. Children who benefits from such programs have a higher propensity to influence their peers into following their steps. For instance, other children from low income areas could want to go to school because their peers are also doing the same. In addition, youths that are fortunate to join the job market can be used by these municipalities to talk with children of their localities on the importance of attending school. It should be understood that children are not on the streets for their own liking but due to the circumstances in their homes. Poverty being experienced by their parents is the main cause for the innocent children to be in their sorry situation. Loosing their innocence makes street children so venerable to antisocial behaviours that have characterised Ghana’s streets life. It is not unique to find under-15 year-olds sniffing glue, smoking or even staggering drunk—behaviours that are hard to drop once the kids get hooked. Authorities and the entire society are thus obliged to intervene before the youths’ lives become completely destroyed. After all, protecting children from such scenarios is tantamount to laying strong foundation for the nation’s workers of tomorrow, and the best way to achieve that goal is taking children of the streets into the school and preventing the exodus from slums to town centres. The government of Ghana should continue being keen on Article 28 of the Convention, which demands basic education for all children to a point that they can depend on themselves, as well as ensuring development of different secondary education. Since Ghana has succeeded in increasing access to primary education that has led to the high enrolment rate of 85 percent (World Bank 2006), it should now focus into increasing the enrolment rate of street children, which is lagging way behind the national average. The Ghanaian government should not just concentrate on the plight of destitute children on the streets and forget about the ones in rural homes that cannot access education, which could lead to their travel from rural to urban areas in search of better lives. Instead, it should ensure that the message of access to education by all poor children reaches to the farthest corners of the country. It is also important to consider different needs required by these children. For instance, the needs of children with disabilities should be catered for through education special schools. Needs of the girl child should also should also be considered and met adequately. Though the government of Ghana has made progress its attempt to reduce the number of street children through educational incentives, it is important to understand that one-size-fits-all techniques might end up not benefiting the most venerable members of street children community. CRC’s Article 40 also calls for the needs of very little children to be considered. This means looking for foster families if the children cannot cope will with life in boarding schools that most homeless street children are enrolled. The government should also improve its structures; this will increase efficiency that is currently lacking. One way of achieving that efficiency is by dismantling the bureaucracy in relevant ministries and agencies. Failure to do that will mean continued suffering of street children and increase of their population in various urban centres. Reforming processes used in helping street children get education should be accompanied by immediate retraining of the personnel. After all, it will be hard for them to help these venerable children without really understanding different special needs that some of the children require. These professionals will be vital in encouraging former street kids to continue with education because the benefits they will gain are vital in their future lives and those of the other children on the streets and slums. Such messages can succeed in empowering street children with the urge to continue with education and determination to succeed despite their unfortunate position in the society. In order to speedup the relocation of street children from urban centres into educational institutions, authorities should consider engaging the private sector and other interest groups into that process. In fact, participation of those groups should be sought during policy formulation processes. This is because the government alone cannot succeed without stakeholders’ contribution. Being the first country to ratify UN CRC in 1990, Ghana set the pace for other developing nations to actually put more emphasis on universal primary education for all children. The country now faces another challenge of setting the pace for reducing the number of street children through education. This is challenge that Ghana should now shy from, it should tackle it with the strength it handled the primary school enrolment rates in 1990s. All that is needed is the political will and clear communication channels communication between the policy makers and stakeholders, who are always willing to take part in moulding the next generation of Ghanaian economic participants. Other than internal stakeholders, many other foreign organisations and governments are always at will to help countries that set good foundations for such programs and express their need for financial support and other advice. Bibliography Fayorsey, S. 1996, Poverty and the Denial of the Ghanaian Child's Basic Human Rights, Available at http://www.geocities.com/cspslibrary/poverty.html UN Convention of the Rights of Children. Summary record of the 377th Meeting: Ghana. Available at http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/0/8de6afaecfc6332f802564c0003e9cb6?Opendocument International Monetary Fund (2008), Ghana: Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility Policy Framework Paper, 1999-2001, Available at http://www.imf.org/external/np/pfp/1999/Ghana/index.htm World Bank. 2006. Ghana Human Development Report 2006: Toward a More Inclusive Society, World Bank Group, Washington Read More