Children in the Pujehun District Council

Demands/Concerns raised by the children in Pujehun in their first Council meeting 

1. Education:

   • There should be an improved system of payment of school fees subsidy to junior secondary schools as payment is not timely by government and parents are asked to pay fees for their children there by leading to children dropping out from school.

   • Prohibit the mandatory sale of pamphlets to children in schools by teachers as children who fail to buy pamphlets are driven from school. Essential text books be provided by MEST in Junior and senior schools as reference materials.

   • Council to facilitate the process of awarding scholarship to less privileged children who pass public examinations but cannot afford to pay school fees and charges.

   • Council to develop strategies to discourage children selling in the street during school hours as this is leading to many children dropping out of school and becoming bread weaners for their families instead of been educated.

   • Council to encourage School Authorities not to levy high extra school charges to children as this is against children acquiring quality education.

   • Appealing to Council for the attention of the MSWGCA that trained and qualified teachers be motivated to teach in remote school communities as many remote schools are closing down as a result of poor motivation of trained teachers.

   • Council to prevail on the MEST to discourage children working on teachers and community farms during and after school hours. This is also risky to child growth and development.

   • Council through the MEST to support the rehabilitation of dilapidated school structures and booths to give way to child friendly learning environment.

   • MEST to stop the closure of schools in remote communities with increased school enrollment as children will find it difficult to travel to distant communities to access school.

                                                                                      

2. Health: 

   • Accommodating children and adults in hospital wards is creating a lot of health hazards for children and as such children are of the opinion Council prevails on DHMT to separate from adults from children when admitted to hospital.

   • Councils to advocate for the availability of essential drugs for children in all PHU’s in the district as children are dying of sicknesses that lack essential drugs for children.

   • Council should support children below 18 years be given free treatment in hospitals and PHU’s and should not only be limited to children under 5 years.

3. Water and sanitation:

   • As a result of inadequate water facilities in schools, public places and communities for easy access by children, Council should do everything to provide safe drinking water facilities in places already mentioned and should discourage the idea of children fetching water late at night.

   • Council to provide more latrine facilities for children in schools as children in most communities and schools as children use unsafe areas for toilet purposes thereby posing greater risk to children. Toilet facilities should also be separated between boys and girls in return.

4. Child Protection:

   • Council in collaboration with Paramount Chiefs to take lead to roll out and enforce district child protection regulations on child rights so that community stake holders, child protection agencies, MSWGCA and others will play active roles in protecting children’s rights. In this regard, compromises for perpetrators of child abuses be brought to a complete halt for justices to prevail.

   • Abolition of child gambling in the district should be given due attention as child gambling is leading to stealing and absenteeism from school.

5. Others:

   • The District Council should give special priority to factor in budget for children activities, services and facilities provided for children in the district.

     District Council Responses to Children’s Demands:

      At the end of the children’s presentations, the Vice Chairman of the Pujehun District Council Kalilu Fofana who chaired the meeting responded to children and the audience thus:

   • Paramount chiefs in the District will be encouraged to enforce community bye laws on child rights since they have the sole mandate to enforce community bye laws.

   • “The bulk stops at the Council’s table” to address children’ concerns regarding the improvement of their rights.

   • The Council is overwhelmed with children’s concerns to factor their issues on the Council’s annual budget. This will be discussed with the MSWGCA to see which activities are viable for preparing budget for children so that the MSWGCA in Pujehun can prepare annual budgets for the immediate attention of the Council before its annual budget hearing each year. 

   • Sales of pamphlets will be given due consideration as the Council will work with the MEST to discourage the idea but more so to immediately discourage money and sex for grades for promoting children to new classes as we want to encourage “education for all” at all stages of learning. 

   • The Council will support the process of awarding scholarships to deserving children and will be discussed during each council meeting.

   • The Council and chiefs will discourage all gambling activities for children in the district so that children will be given adequate opportunity to attend school as required.

   • Hence forth, children representatives will be allowed for all District Council meetings as the children will be informed of the venue and dates for meetings through SC in Pujehun.

   • Paramount Chiefs and Councilors are encouraged to be discussing children’s issues and concerns during their ward meetings. This demonstrates taking ownership and concerns for children’s issues and identifying solutions for positive results.

   • There is school feeding program on going for children in the district

   • WaterAid and ADB have 32 water well projects on going while SLWACO has approved

     400 water well projects in the district that will benefit children in schools and

     communities at large. UNDP has also approved 4 bore holes for the Council which will benefit 2 communities 2 health center.  

   • Councilor Baby Sellu admitted that the children’s concerns are “forthright and telling” and that the Councilors will support children in their demands most especially justice for child rights.