Dormaa Municipal Assembly in conjunction with the Municipal Office of the Department of Social Welfare has launched an essay competition for Junior High Schools in the municipality as part of activities to mark the 2010 Day Against Child labour.
The students will write the essay titled "the negative effects of child labour and the importance of education" under the supervision of their teachers and presented to the municipal office of the Department of Social Welfare for assessment and reward.
Launching the day at Dormaa-Ahenkro the Municipal Chief Executive, Vincent Oppong Asamoah, appealed to farmers in general and cocoa farmers in particular to consider the menace of child labour as a phenomenon that could ruin the future of children.
He appealed to the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Services Department to intensify public education on child labour with emphasis on the distinction between child work and child labour.
Mr. Asamoah called on traditional authorities, assembly members, unit committees, youth associations and schools to monitor agricultural activities in their areas to identify and report any violation of rules and
regulations governing the fight against Worst Forms of Child labour.
Mr. Amankwaa Boateng, Municipal Director of the NCCE, defined child labour as any work "that is exploitative, has the potential to deprive
children of their education and personal wholesome development and endangers
their physical health and moral safety".
He said when conditions that allowed for such development became permissible in farming communities children could be exposed to both short and long term hazards that in the long run would add to the existing health and economic problems confronting the nation.
Mr. Amankwaa stressed the need for child work to be re-defined to distinguish it from child labour so that child labour advocates would be denied the opportunity of hiding behind ambiguity to further exploit the nation's innocent children.