As part of activities to mark this year’s International Day of African Child, the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), FCT Chapter, has called on federal government to reintroduce History in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools in the country.
This is as the Association also called on the federal government to take all necessary measures to protect schools in the country and implement the promise made regarding financing Safe School System in Nigeria at the April 2021 conference, adding that schools should be safe environment for children to study and develop.
NAWOJ FCT in a press statement by the Chairperson, Comrade Anna Daniel, Wednesday in Abuja, noted that the theme for this year’s International Day of African child is: “30 Years After the Adoption of the Charter, Accelerate the Implementation of Agenda 2040 for an Africa Fit for Children.”
The statement stated that the International Day for African Child, which is celebrated on June 16 every year, was created to highlight the importance of what it means to be a child in Africa, the need to improve the education system in Africa as well as challenges being faced by the African child in the quest to access quality education.
Comrade Daniel Harper on the need to keep the children abreast with what happened in the past and what is happening now, “so they don’t loss touch with their roots and also learn from the events of the past.
“It is said that those who do not remember the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat it, thus understanding our past and where we are coming from would help us appreciate where we are now and even decide what our tomorrow will be. We need History to be taught early in schools.”
On the safety of schools, she stressed that attacks on students and schools were gross violation of the right of the children to education, noting that it is a right any society can ill afford to violate.
“It is disheartening that schools and school children are now targets of attack, and even children as young as four years old are kidnapped. We can imagine how terrified they were and the impact it will have on their mental health and well being.
“Government owes it as a duty to ensure that no child is kidnapped simply because their parents gave them the opportunity to acquire an education especially given the rising number of out-of-school children.
“Education is the right of every child hence government has to do more to ensure that every child gets basic education as enshrined in the Child Rights Act, just as states that are yet to domesticate the Child Rights Act should be mandated to do so as a matter of urgency,” she declared.
