Director of Field Operations for the United Party (UP) has proposed that the parents of young children engaged in illegal mining or galamsey should be held accountable by the law for the actions of their wards.
According to him, parents should be responsible for ensuring that their children are doing the right things.
His comments come following a recent report from Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) which revealed a critical education crisis in Northern Ghana where galamsey and sports betting have become primary drivers for school dropouts.
They report noted that nearly 70% of children not in school aged 12 to 17 abandoned their education due to their involvement in galamsey.
Speaking on Joy News and monitored by NewsDesksGH on December 16, Hopeson Adorye questioned why the responsibility of watching children is being put on the government.
“Is it the responsibility of the government to make sure they’re in the classroom or the responsibility of the parents?”
“If a child is doing something wrong we say government. And then we leave the parents whose responsibility is to make sure their children are in classroom, we leave them.”
He went on to cal for stricter laws to deal directly with parents who allow their children to participate in galamsey activities.
“I will say that, there should be a strict law that will even deal with parents who allow their kids to go into this galamsey business,”
He added that in other countries parents are legally sanctioned when children are not attending school.
“If you go elsewhere, if the kid is not in the classroom then you the parents, you are responsible. The law will deal with you.”
Mr. Adorye further criticised what he described as the neglectful attitude of some parents towards their children’s education.
“The ignorance of some parents. They don’t care what their kids are doing in school. When they leave home they will not even follow up to see if they’re in school or not,”
“There should be a way to make sure if you’re a parent and we find your kids sing some of these things we will deal with you the parent. Instead of pushing the blame somewhere,” he stressed.
