“We can no longer tolerate our children going hungry, dying of poison, being shot or joining gangs,” says early childhood development expert Professor Eric Atmore.
Speaking to some 500 people during an event at St George’s Cathedral, on Wednesday November 20, to commemorate World Children’s Day, the director of the Claremont-based Centre for Early Childhood Development called for the protection of children and an end to child poverty.
Preschools, faith-based organisations, school pupils, children’s rights organisations were among those at the event, which included a performance by singer Jimmy Nevis.
“Attention should also be given to children with special and different physical and learning needs, because we tend to as a country to forget about these children,” said Professor Atmore.
All children should be included in the drive to promote children’s rights, he added.
“Now is the time. Our voices must be heard loud and clear. We have the policies and plans and academic research, though it is not being implemented by the government.”
Theodorah Lutuli, principal of Inkwenkwezi Educare Centre in Nyanga, said she found it hard to understand that people still had to be reminded that “children should be prioritised, and that their human rights also matter”.
Ms Lutuli is also the chairperson of the United Network Organisation for Early Childhood Development. She said preschools being robbed and vandalised and children being shot on their way to school were just some of the realities the sector faced.
Imam Rashied Omar, of the Claremont Main Road mosque, said that despite observing World Children’s Day, children in many countries still endured poverty, violence and inequality.
“On World Children’s Day, we lament the endemic of gang violence that destroys and diminishes the lives of our children each day on the Cape Flats,” he said, also referring to the suffering of children in the Gaza Strip.
“This is a stain on the conscience of the world. They are not merely collateral damage, they are our sons and our daughters. They are future doctors, artists, teachers and leaders. Their lives matter; their dreams matter.”
Voortrekker High Grade 11 pupil Inganathi Ndiko said: “We are the next generation in the future of our country. We need to bring ‘action’ because ‘words’ are meaningless without any action.”
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