School children in the Northern Region have pleaded with their parents to allow them to be in school rather than withdrawing them for farming activities, which impedes their development.
The children indicated that their future remained bleak without formal education, and appealed to parents to understand that education is the modern tool for success, which would enable them to reciprocate their investments.
They said this on Thursday in Tamale through drama to mark the International Day of the African Child, an annual event to remember the children who were massacred in Soweto, South Africa, when they gathered to press home their quest for better living conditions.
This year’s event dubbed, “All Together For Urgent Action in Favour of Street Children,” was marked with a possession through major principal streets of the Metropolis with placards bearing various messages on the need to combat streetism.

Some of the messages read: “All Can Work Together to Curb Streetism”, “One child out of the street reduces streetism”, “Plan your family to reduce street children” and “Responsible Parenting Prevent Streetism”.
The Christian Children's Fund of Canada (CCFC), an international NGO, and its local partners, organized the programme meant to let children talk to parents through drama, to ensure that some parents reversed their negative attitudes towards children and to enroll them in formal schools.
CCFC is a child-centred international development organization and a member of ChildFund Alliance, whose main purpose is to show compassion, love and care to children by offering them with the needed attention and assistance to grow.
Mr Nasamu Asabigi, the Deputy Northern Regional Minister, expressed regret about the high rate of streetism and called on stakeholders to deliberate on the issue dispassionately and find lasting solutions to such a developmental challenge.
He said the government would continue to pursue policies towards providing infrastructure to do away with the problem of schools under trees, support family planning initiatives and to generally address the issues of streetism.
Mr Asabigi said the National Democratic Congress with its ‘Better Ghana Agenda’ was ready to collaborate with civil societies to fight the canker, which retrogress the development of the country.
Madam Sanatu Nantogmah, Country Director of CCFC, called on parents to invest heavily in their children's education to ensure that the children did not go wayward.
She said the CCFC was concerned about children's welfare no matter their religious backgrounds, and that her outfit would continue to assist children and other vulnerable groups in society.
Madam Nantogmah said children in Africa were facing a lot of challenges because of poverty, disease, conflicts and other social exclusions, and stressed the need for all to extend a hand of friendship to children for them to realize their dreams.
With regards to the ensuring the right of children, she said, a lot had been done but there were many hurdles against the realization of children’s freedom.
“Many children are violated and maimed by the very people who are expected to nurture and protect them,” she observed.

Dr Geoffery Acaye of UNICEF, suggested that strengthening community based systems was necessary for the protection of children and could prevent unsafe migration.
He said, “Ensuring that children are in school will serve as a means of delaying migration or getting into early employment and increasing their chances of getting better and more decent jobs.”