Traditional council to address irresponsible parenthood
The President of the Agona Nyakrom Traditional Council, Okofo Katakyi Nyarku Eku X, has warned that the traditional council will soon begin hauling parents who fail to provide for the upkeep of their children before the council to explain their actions.
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According to him, the move is to protect children in the area from parental neglect, which could affect their development, as well as progress in life.
He noted that it was an open secret particularly in the Agona area that some fathers in particular tended to abandon their responsibilities, leaving the burden of the upkeep of children on mothers, who usually found it difficult to make ends meet.
Development association
Okofo Nyarku Eku disclosed this during the official inauguration of the Agonaman Development Association at Agona Nyakrom in the Agona West Municipality in the Central Region last weekend.
The event, held on the theme: ‘’Empowering the youth for development projects in Agonaman,’’ attracted the traditional authority and the general public.
He noted that it was totally unacceptable for parents to bring forth children and decide to shirk their responsibilities towards the upkeep of such children, who are often left to cater for themselves and who sometimes end up on the streets.
He stated that a number of children loitered about in most of the towns within the traditional council with no parental care and control, making them susceptible to abuse and peer pressure that made them engage in vices such as alcoholism, prostitution, pickpocketing and drug abuse.
“As a traditional council, we have a duty to use our customs and traditions to impress upon such parents to perform their duties as required of them. Children need love, care and protection to facilitate their development,” he stressed.
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He used the occasion to appeal to parents to enrol their children in school since education was the only important and valuable legacy they could bequeath to them.
Standards of education
The Provost of the College of Distance Education (CoDE) of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Professor George K.T. Oduro, bemoaned the falling standard of education in the area, which has reflected in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) in the past five years.
He attributed it to the fact that some parents had failed to take keen interest in the education of their children. He urged graduates from senior high schools to take advantage of the distance education programme to acquire tertiary education to make them competitive in the world of work.
The acting President of the Agona Nsaba Traditional Council, Nana Kofi Yeboah VIII, commended the members of the association for their initiative and added that the formation of such an association was long overdue.
He said people in the area needed to work in unity to attract a lot of investments and speed up the progress of Agonaman.
He also added his voice to the call on parents to provide a sound foundation for their children to make them grow into responsible adults.
President of association
The President of the Association, Mr Alex Nana Buadu, said the association was formed primarily to mobilise resources to support the education of underprivileged children and the development of the area.
He noted that the association would open chapters in all the Agona towns to champion the development of the area, stressing that most communities had developed as a result of togetherness. He, therefore, called on citizens home and abroad to support the association to achieve its goals and objectives.
Writer’s email: gilbertagbey@gmail.com