Child safety has been ignored in today's fast paced world putting children at risk in many spheres of life, President of Rotary Club, Accra West, Mr. Ekow Paintsil, said in Accra on Wednesday.
Child safety is a shared responsibility of the state, parent, guardians and communities, he said, and called for precautionary measures to ensure that children, especially the physically challenged, avoided potential dangers that could harm them.
Mr Painstil was addressing parents, guardians and care givers of physically challenged children at a Christmas party organized by Rotary Club Accra West.
Children from New Horizon School, Akropong School for the Blind, Mampong School for Deaf, Dworulu Special School and the Osu Children's Home were served with food and drinks and given toys.
Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide.
Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide
education and job training, promote peace and eradicate polio under the motto "Service Above Self".
Mr Painstil said it was in the light of this that Rotary, in collaboration with National Road Safety Commission, had put together a road
safety campaign targeted at school children to equip them with requisite knowledge and skills on their safety.
He said children should be thought to shout to attract attention when they felt unsafe or uncomfortable, express emotions clearly and should be talked to in a non-threatening manner because they needed not be sacred to understand what to do.
Mr Painstil charged care givers to protect the children and put safety measure in place and asked parents to resist speeding and breaking traffic rules when running late to drop or pick their children at school.
"Taking precautionary steps will go a long way to keep your children safe, comfortable and happy. Let's all decide to make child safety a top priority in our lives," he said.