The Special Representative of the President of the ECOWAS Commission to Liberia, Ambassador Babatunde O. Ajisomo, has underscored the need for Liberia to work with its partners to begin a home grown school feeding program.
He said the home-grown food program has a critical role to play in making the education of the youth attractive and irresistible.
Speaking at a program marking the celebration of the World Day against Child Labour Wednesday, the ECOWAS envoy stressed that it is important that Government, the World Food Program and all stakeholders do everything possible to ensure the success of the home-grown school
feeding program.
According to him, the beauty of this program is that it strengthens the education capacity of the children through nutrition and development of children’s mental capacity for learning.
“It is therefore pertinent that Liberians themselves take ownership of this program in order to drive it successfully and drive maximum accruable benefits from it in the overall interest of the country,” he
said.
He further stated that one critical area worthy of note is the need for the sustenance of this laudable program which is the provision of school meals and the entire feeding regime.
He indicated that it must be less dependent on food importation in order to develop the national economy, adding that the huge foreign exchange that may be used to import food items could as well be spent locally to improve the standard of education, quality of life and create employment in Liberia.
Ambassador Ajisomo said it is saddening to note that a total of 152 million children are still trapped in child labour and 73 million, almost half of that number, are in hazardous work, describing it as
simply unacceptable.”
He assured that ECOWAS will continue to work closely with the Liberian Government and other local and international partners in ensuring the development of children’s dreams through quality education.
He stressed the need to urgently accelerate the pace of progress as well as the need for more coherent action and relevant policy and legal framework for children’s education.
“Equally, availability of quality education for children as well as social protection for all, including decent work for parents, would go a long way in eliminating child labour in the sub-region and the world at large,” he observed.
TSS/abj/APA