DAY OF AFRICAN CHILD AT KE759; 16TH OF JUNE 2021
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The Day of the African Child is celebrated on June 16 to commemorate those killed during the Soweto Uprising in South Africa, and to recognize the courage of the students who marched for their right to education. The Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the OAU Organization of African Unity. It honors those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976.
The Day of the African Child is also an opportunity to raise awareness for the ongoing need to improve the education of children living across Africa. It’s a need that still very much exists today. Of the 57 million primary school age children currently out of school around the world, over half are from sub-Saharan Africa. There are a number of reasons why children go uneducated. Their parents may not afford school fees, the distance to the nearest school may be too far, or early marriage may keep girls from the classroom. These and many more barriers to education have an enormous impact on children, especially girls. Though progress has been made since the Soweto Uprising, 1 in 10 children are still missing from the classroom. Much more work needs to be done to ensure all children are receiving a quality education. We know the transformational power education can have on children.
We at AIC Kanzinwa Child and Youth Development centre we celebrated Day of African Child on 16th of June 2021 whose theme was “30 years after the adoption of the Charter: Accelerate implementation of agenda 2040 for an “Africa Fit for children” in style with both supported and unsupported beneficiaries that learn inn our private church-based primary school; AIC Kanzinwa Academy. It was an eye opener, thrilling and thriving to all that participated. Plays, poems and songs that were presented by pupils as a media of expressing themselves and that were relevant to the occasion made everything colourful and blissful. We read and expounded the ten 2040 aspirations for African fit for children:-
Aspriration 1: The African Children’s Charter, as supervised by the African Children’s Committee, provides an effective continental framework for advancing children’s rights.
Aspiration 2: An effective child-friendly national legislative, policy and institutional framework is in place in all Member States
Aspiration 3: Every child’s birth and other vital statistics are registered
Aspiration 4: Every child survives and has a healthy childhood
Aspiration 5: Every child grows up well-nourished and with access to the basic necessities of life
Aspiration 6: Every child benefits fully from quality education
Aspiration 7: Every child is protected against violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse
Aspiration 8: Children benefit from a child-sensitive criminal system
Aspiration 9: Every child is free from the impact of armed conflicts and other disasters or emergency situations
Aspiration 10: African children’s views matter.
The Frontline Church Partner management team vowed to intensively teach all our registered and non-registered beneficiaries Children rights to know and live by them. We also set forth the 4 and 5 Sustainable Development Goals; Quality Education and Gender Equality respectively since they are very relevant to this ideal occasion.
“The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” Billy Graham, evangelist. “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa.
