Adults and children have been called upon to report anonymously cases of child abuse to the National Helpline 116.
This move is set to greatly influence how child abuse cases are reported with adults and children alike no longer going to have to be worried about their identity being known by those they are reporting.
According to the Embu County Children Services Co-ordinator Develyne Mundi, the “Spot it, Stop it” Campaign has yielded results with more than 10,000 children having been reached via visits to schools.
In addition, he said that child labour cases have been on the rise especially in Muguka farms in the dry areas of Mbeere North and South sub-counties where parents have forced their children to do the hard labour of fetching water for the herbs, weeding and harvesting. This, in his opinion, has deprived the children of time to study.
“We are telling parents that any work that denies children education or beyond their capacity was child labour,” warned Mundi.
On his part, the guest of honour Mwea Assistant County Commissioner David Mukung revealed that the government is committed to eliminating these practices that have harmed children across the country.
However, he warned that this could only be achieved by creating real-time awareness and informing authorities immediately when the incidences happen.
Loitoktok sub-county Children’s officer also warned those forcing children to do hard labour.
Denis Njoroge informed KNA that subjecting children to child labour and other harmful practices were having a negative impact on the, which will reveal itself later in the children’s lives.
Njoroge also spoke against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) saying that the practice is still being carried out in the sub-county to some extent despite the government’s efforts to stop it.
“We have decided to teach our children to equip them with the knowledge of their rights and how they can report cases of abuse to the concerned authorities,” said Develyne Mundi, who is the Embu County Children Services Co-ordinator.
Feeding programmme in schools
Garissa Sub-County Director of Education Ali Buthul also revealed that the government has implemented a feeding program in schools in the area in a bid to protect children from the effects of drought.
Besides, he said that the government is also implementing the one hundred per cent transition from primary to secondary schools.