The Greater Accra Paralegals Group 2023, in partnership with the Advocacy and Communications Department of the Street Children Empowerment (SCEF), organized a sensitization workshop on school-related Gender-Based Violence for 30 children in Jamestown, Accra Central.
The main aim of the workshop according to Ophelia Allotey, President of the Greater Accra Paralegal group is to emphasize the need to break the culture of silence and encourage the report of gender-based violence especially in schools. Adding that “keeping quiet on these harms is as dangerous as the violence itself”.
Alice Adusei, Secretary of the Paralegal group educated the children on the various forms of violence and its effects on their general well-being and also reiterated the need for them to report any form of abuse against them.
The session was very interactive and engaging with great contributions from the children. Their questions revealed that most of them do not even understand some of the harm meted out to them, while others expressed fear as the reason for their silence.
Ophelia lamented that some children bottle up their grievances because they do not have any trusted adult to turn to, while others prefer to suffer in silence to avoid social ridicule and stigmatization. This she said, exposes them to dangers such as teenage pregnancy, STIs, mental stress, changes in their mood, aggression, etc.
She thus, called for a whole societal approach to tackling the issue of violence against children, especially girls to keep them safe and protected. “It is the responsibility of the community to build a safety net around these children and single out perpetrators to face the law”. She entreated.
Alice admonished teachers to pay critical attention to their students and build a friendly relationship with them, so they can open up to them and trust them with some of these silent battles they are facing.
She also encouraged the children to be bold to report any form of violence against them. Adding that, if the violence is committed by a teacher, they should report it to the head, and if they do not feel safe reporting to the school authorities, they should always come to SCEF to make a complaint and the appropriate action will be taken.
The children expressed delight in the new knowledge acquired and thanked the organizers for putting such an educative workshop together. The workshop was crowned with a picture petition, with various advocacy messages and calls to action.