The Sunday Mail
June 16, 1976 is a date that might not ring a bell to some people but it is an important day in the history of our youth and our struggle for a better tomorrow.
History, by necessity, shapes the future. On that fateful day nearly 40 years ago, a series of protests broke out in Soweto and spread across apartheid South Africa as high school students demonstrated against the oppressive colonial government’s education policies in particular, and racial bigotry in general.
Many innocent young souls perished in what is one of the worst crackdowns on people’s right to self-determination in this part of the world.
As a result, June 16 has been set aside by the international community as the Day of the African Child.
The reason for the protest was the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, which forced all schools to use Afrikaans for all science and practical subjects while indigenous languages would be used for religion and music instruction only. Sounds trivial, doesn’t it?
But those open-minded young boys and girls realised that language was a vehicle carrying culture and identity. And as such, its use in the hands of the apartheid regime made it a tool to further oppress the majority, hence their decision to stand up and assert their right to be African.
The rights of the African child, as those of all other Africans, were trampled upon during that era and young people said “enough is enough”.
These children appreciated that they were the future of their country, and they did not want that future compromised by bigoted nonsense.
These young voices are voices that need to be heard. They need to be nurtured so that they articulate our aspirations as a people. In Zimbabwe, commemoration of the Day of the African Child coincided with the official opening of the 23rd Session of the Junior Parliament in Harare yesterday. Hopefully our policymakers were listening attentively as the Junior Parliamentarians made some very meaningful contributions on matters of national importance such as investment in education and protection of the rights of country’s young people.
The issues raised must be addressed expeditiously. Indeed, the nation is obliged to place the children’s interests at the heart of the national agenda as President Mugabe noted in his address. Amongst the child right abuses highlighted by children through their junior parliamentary representatives is that of early marriages.
This resonates with this year’s commemorations which were running under the theme “25 years after the adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating our collective efforts to end child marriages in Africa”.
Statistics from the Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey (2014) revealed that 24,5 percent of girls aged between 15 to 19 years are currently married or in a union while only 1,7 percent of boys in the same age group are married or in a union. This tells us that girls are far more at risk of being coerced into early marriages than boys are. This is not to say the plight of boy victims is not a matter of concern, but just that girls are more susceptible to abuse.
These young victims are forfeiting their full potential for personal development because parents and communities are not doing enough to safeguard their rights.
Without a doubt, Government needs to tighten the legal screws where child marriages are concerned. Perpetrators must be brought to book, and this means communities must be more proactive in reporting abuses that some parents might be condoning for whatever unjustifiable ends.
Therefore, President Mugabe’s announcement that Government is considering to outlaw the marriage of young people below the age of 18 is most welcome.
Children need parental, societal and legal protection. Further, children need to be educated on these fundamental rights from an early age so that they too can be at the forefront of advancing what is best for them. In addition to this, Government should act swiftly to deliver universal quality education.
As rightly noted by Child President Samuel Nyarenda yesterday, there is a close relationship between education, infant mortality, maternal mortality, poverty and child marriage.
Ensuring that every child enjoys the right to education will greatly quell related problems to do with poverty and early marriages.
President Mugabe’s Government has done well since 1980 in increasing access to education. That is commendable.
But the war is not yet won.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: A war still to be won
The Sunday Mail
June 16, 1976 is a date that might not ring a bell to some people but it is an important day in the history of our youth and our struggle for a better tomorrow.
History, by necessity, shapes the future. On that fateful day nearly 40 years ago, a series of protests broke out in Soweto and spread across apartheid South Africa as high school students demonstrated against the oppressive colonial government’s education policies in particular, and racial bigotry in general.
Many innocent young souls perished in what is one of the worst crackdowns on people’s right to self-determination in this part of the world.
As a result, June 16 has been set aside by the international community as the Day of the African Child.
The reason for the protest was the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974, which forced all schools to use Afrikaans for all science and practical subjects while indigenous languages would be used for religion and music instruction only. Sounds trivial, doesn’t it?
But those open-minded young boys and girls realised that language was a vehicle carrying culture and identity. And as such, its use in the hands of the apartheid regime made it a tool to further oppress the majority, hence their decision to stand up and assert their right to be African.
The rights of the African child, as those of all other Africans, were trampled upon during that era and young people said “enough is enough”.
These children appreciated that they were the future of their country, and they did not want that future compromised by bigoted nonsense.
These young voices are voices that need to be heard. They need to be nurtured so that they articulate our aspirations as a people. In Zimbabwe, commemoration of the Day of the African Child coincided with the official opening of the 23rd Session of the Junior Parliament in Harare yesterday. Hopefully our policymakers were listening attentively as the Junior Parliamentarians made some very meaningful contributions on matters of national importance such as investment in education and protection of the rights of country’s young people.
The issues raised must be addressed expeditiously. Indeed, the nation is obliged to place the children’s interests at the heart of the national agenda as President Mugabe noted in his address. Amongst the child right abuses highlighted by children through their junior parliamentary representatives is that of early marriages.
This resonates with this year’s commemorations which were running under the theme “25 years after the adoption of the African Children’s Charter: Accelerating our collective efforts to end child marriages in Africa”.
Statistics from the Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey (2014) revealed that 24,5 percent of girls aged between 15 to 19 years are currently married or in a union while only 1,7 percent of boys in the same age group are married or in a union. This tells us that girls are far more at risk of being coerced into early marriages than boys are. This is not to say the plight of boy victims is not a matter of concern, but just that girls are more susceptible to abuse.
These young victims are forfeiting their full potential for personal development because parents and communities are not doing enough to safeguard their rights.
Without a doubt, Government needs to tighten the legal screws where child marriages are concerned. Perpetrators must be brought to book, and this means communities must be more proactive in reporting abuses that some parents might be condoning for whatever unjustifiable ends.
Therefore, President Mugabe’s announcement that Government is considering to outlaw the marriage of young people below the age of 18 is most welcome.
Children need parental, societal and legal protection. Further, children need to be educated on these fundamental rights from an early age so that they too can be at the forefront of advancing what is best for them. In addition to this, Government should act swiftly to deliver universal quality education.
As rightly noted by Child President Samuel Nyarenda yesterday, there is a close relationship between education, infant mortality, maternal mortality, poverty and child marriage.
Ensuring that every child enjoys the right to education will greatly quell related problems to do with poverty and early marriages.
President Mugabe’s Government has done well since 1980 in increasing access to education. That is commendable.
But the war is not yet won.
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