Ghana: Child Online Africa Joins Others to Mark Universal Children’s Day

Mrs Awo Aidam Amenyah, Executive Director of Child Online Africa

Accra, Ghana, November 20, 2020//-Child Online Africa today Joined like-minded civil, governmental and non-governmental organization to celebrate the Universal Children’s Day 2020.

This year’s observation is somehow muted as the COVID-19 pandemic rages through the globe, impacting children
of every strata in every country in a manner unforeseen.

Globally, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is reporting that some 572 million children worldwide have been affected by school closures coupled with pre-existing challenges of abuse, trafficking, cyberbullying among others.

As we “reimagine a better world for children” Child Online Africa sees this year’s occasion as opportune moment to stress the need for Investing in our future which means allocating resources into the Digital Skills development of children, according to Mrs Awo Aidam Amenyah, Executive Director of Child Online Africa, a child centred and online child protection NGO.

This can be successfully achieved only if parents and other stakeholders prioritize and commit to the
welfare of children in cyberspace, she added.

These done, we could see a reduction in the negative impact of COVID-19 while safeguarding children’s education, privacy and well-being.

“Our monitoring and Observation reports for the year indicates that the continuous shutdown of schools across many African countries has exposed the widened digital divide and digital skills gap which persist on the continent as a result economic challenges confronting many of these developing nations”.

Additionally governmental policies have not been seen to be aggressively targeting reduction or a possible subsidy to the high cost of internet data charges or infrastructure.

Realistically, any intervention in this regard would have been timely in tearing down barriers making participation burdensome for many children in Africa to access virtual platforms for effective teaching and learning .

“As result we call on governments, parents and all other stakeholders to be intentional in provisioning for the African Child to participate effectively in all settings. We also urge for other immediate interventions to make the world a better place for every African child”.

African Eye Report

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