Social Development and Gender Specialist, Dr. Rita Owusu Amankwah, has said that children should be prohibited engaging in any form of work in the fishing and mining sector.
She indicated in an interview on Happy 98.9FM’s Happy Morning Show, that involving children in these sectors are major acts of child labor that lead to numerous counts of death.
The human rights activist acknowledged that poverty and ignorance are key factors that compel parents and guardians to expose their children to such hazardous environments. “Some parents let their children go into these sectors because there is nothing to eat; if they had money to pay fees, the child would probably be in school. Some parents are also not aware of the risks involved in such acts of child labor; they assume that they are preparing the child for the real world.”
Nevertheless, Dr. Owusu affirmed that every child deserves education and charged guardians to invest in giving their wards a viable educational background.