CHILDREN RESCUED FROM CHILD LABOUR PROVIDED UNIFORMS, FOOTWEAR (PAGE 17)

THE government, in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), has donated school uniforms and footwear valued at GH¢3,819.70 to 132 children rescued from child labour in the Techiman municipality.
This was made possible with the support of the Techiman Municipal Assembly and the Bureau of Rural Urban Mobilisers for Development (BRUM), a non-governmental organisation.
Techiman is one of the 20 districts selected by the government to benefit from this project nation-wide.
In all, 10 communities were selected as beneficiaries, with six of them located in the Techiman, namely, Wangara Line, Tunsuase, Abanim, Dagomba Line, Ahenbronoso and Dwomo.
The rest are Tanoso, Asueyi, Offuman and Tuobodom.
Mr Davis Boamah Asumadu, the co-ordinator of BRUM, said at the presentation ceremony that the Techiman Municipal Assembly had provided funds to facilitate the withdrawal of 200 children working under worst forms of child labour, particularly head portage (Kayayei), at the markets and in commercial agriculture.
He also said BRUM had been able to withdraw 132 children, from a targeted figure of 150, and placed them in schools since its inception in June 2007.
Again, 50 children had been identified and registered to receive vocational skills training, he said, adding that so far nine of them had been placed with master craftsmen and women to undergo training in hairdressing, tailoring, bakery, aluminium modelling and fabrication.
Mr Asumadu mentioned that a total sum of GH¢915.00 had been spent on the rescued children so far, while GH¢3,819.70 had been used in providing the aforementioned support.
He disclosed that well-packed support programmes had been earmarked for beneficiaries, including their parents.
He, therefore, urged Community Child Labour Committee members from the various beneficiary communities to join the NGO to collate and compile the names of all the parents and guardians of the beneficiary children.
In a speech, the Techiman Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Prince Yaw Donyina, advised the beneficiaries to carry the news about the good policies of the New Patriotic Party government, which included the Capitation Grant, the school feeding programme, the health insurance scheme, among others, to their parents.
He said the government would continue to come up with good policies to move the nation forward.