A NUMBER of children in the Twin-City of Sekondi/Takoradi engage in gambling with rubber bands, and play cards under trees, while others spend their time playing computer games at the expense of their education.
Some parents who attended the National Children’s Day celebration at Keten near Sekondi, which was sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have therefore, appealed to the Ministry of Women’s and Children Affairs (MOWAC), the Department of Social Welfare and other stakeholdres to intervene to save the future of their children.
The parents said the children used their pocket money for gambling and when they did not get any money, they stole from them.
The Western Regional Director of the Department of Women and Children, Mr John Hackman, said it was sad that sometimes children trooped to Internet cafés and beaches to gamble under trees during school hours, adding that, “We don’t have a problem with children’s interest in the use of information technology, but if they would do so at the expense of their education, then we would not support it.”
For her part, the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs Juliana Azuma-Mensah, said her outfit would collaborate with UNICEF and other stakeholders to ensure that the children were protected, stressing that the ministry had a role to play in protecting the interest of children.
Following the concern expressed by the parents, this reporter visited some Internet cafés in the metropolis and he found that majority of their customers were children.
One of the café attendants stated that “the children buy the time and play the same game and bet, the winner then takes the money”.
He said although they did well to discourage them , some of the children outwitted them and were only exposed when there was a disagreement over who won or lost.
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