Almost all school children in Accra Town, a fishing community, near Yeji in the Pru District of the Brong-Ahafo Region are engaged in commercial fishing activities.
Aged between eight and 14, majority of the school going-age children followed their parents daily to engage in fishing activities on the Black Volta, instead for them to be in school.
Mr Wisdom Tsamenyi, the Head master of the Accra Town D/A Primary School who disclosed this, said pupil absenteeism was affecting academic progress in the school as virtually all the classrooms were always empty.
He was interacting with officials of Challenging Heights (CH), a humanitarian and philanthropic Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) during a visit to the coastal community last weekend.
Ms Lucy Arthur, the Communication Manager of the CH led a seven-member delegation from the United States of America to assess the activity of the NGO in the fishing community.
Mr Tsamenyi expressed regret that child labour and trafficking were rife in the community as many parents showed little interest towards the education of their children.
“Their interest is to engage their children to mend their nets for fishing. Sometimes I have to go round the community to appeal to parents and guardians to release their children to come to school,” he said.
“Some of them heed to the advice and allow their children to come to school but just for a period,” Mr Tsamenyi added.
According to Mr Tsamenyi, only 250 children out of the about 1,000 school-going age children were in school.
The Headmaster noted that the interest the school children to stay in school had gone down as most of them absconded during break time.
Mr Tsamenyi said many of the school children who had completed primary division relocated to the Yeji Township and do fishing.
He observed that because of lack of accommodation in the area, many teachers failed to accept postings to serve in the community.
“There is no accommodation and potable water” he said, adding that the community depended on the Lake for water.
Mr Tsamenyi expressed gratitude to the NGO for the rescue and recovery of trafficked children, and for the promotion of the growth and development of education.
Mr Mark Hamilton, Leader of the US delegation, and Chairman of Friends of CH in the USA, said the delegation was impressed about the visit and promised that it would mobilize funds to support the community.
Mr Stephen Addo, the Recovery and Community Engagement Manager of the CH, was grateful to the delegation and called on the government, corporate institutions and individuals to support the campaign against child labour and trafficking.
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