BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI 

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a call to action to governments in Southern Africa to protect children’s rights and ensure they receive quality education.

The call to action comes after a regional consultation with children from Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The consultation, held in Victoria Falls, brought together over 5 000 children to share their experiences, concerns, and ideas for creating a better future.

UNICEF is urging governments to take concrete steps to address the challenges facing children in the region.

These include ensuring access to quality education, strengthening and enriching curricula, and providing children with equal opportunities for education.

“We call on our Governments to take
concerted action on the following issues…

To ensure access to Education:

Ensure all children – including children from
disadvantaged backgrounds – have access to
quality education, providing financial support for
those in need and addressing the specific needs
of girls andboys to access education.

Strengthen and enrich curricula to ensure
inclusion of practical life skills that enhance daily
living and learning to earning.

Curriculum content should be designed to ensure relevance and meet the current demands of children.

Quality education needs to be innovative,
allowing critical thinking and creativity, ensuring
appropriate learning materials and a supportive
learning environment, and facilitating
engagement and practical skills development.
Governments should provide this in consultation
with children.

Educators should be equipped to deliver
quality education, making learning fresh, and
impactful, and delivered in pleasant
environments and infrastructure, conducive to
learning, including well-equipped labs
andlibraries.

Construct child- and disability-friendly
infrastructure and provide sufficient teaching
resources, including solar power for
uninterrupted learning, build schools closer to
communities or provide transportation for
students.

Involve parents, guardians and community
leaders in creating an inclusive education
system – including adolescent girls at risk of
drop out of school, children involved in child
labour, minority groups and children with
disabilities – to ensure no child is left behind.,” said a UNICEF report.

The children who participated in the regional consultation also issued a call to action to their governments.

They demanded that their voices be heard and that they be included in decision-making processes that affect their lives.

“We want our governments to listen to us and to take our views seriously,” said one of the child delegates.

“We want quality education that prepares us for the future and enables us to reach our full potential.”

UNICEF is supporting the children’s call to action and is working with governments, civil society organizations, and other partners to ensure that all children in the region receive the quality education they deserve.