The government has been called upon to sustain the ongoing efforts towards the education of children in cocoa growing communities.
This is in view of the positive impact it is having on children by reducing the numbers who go into the activities.
Government has equally been called upon to sensitive cocoa communities about the safety risks and health consequences facing children working on cocoa farms.
Contained in a report which was put together by Child Rights International, government is been asked to further coordinate the planning , implementation and response to child labour activities in the cocoa sector.
The Executive Director of Child Rights International, MrBright Appiah, who presented the report at a function in Accra and made the call, revealed that a total of 33, 180 representing 64.8percent of children are at a high risk of child labour .
This, he explained is one of the reasons government must sustain the efforts towards educating children in the cocoa growing areas to prevent them from engaging in that activity.
Although, an average of 96.5percent of children are going to school currently in cocoa growing communities, more efforts at educating many more will go a long way to end the practise, he noted.
The report was based on data collected by Child Rights from August 2020 to December 2021.
The deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, MrBrightWereko- Brobbey, who performed the launch, indicated that government is indeed scaling up efforts to end child labour which is why it introduced the Free Senior High School policy and that of the School Feeding Programme which are to open up the space for children to go to school.
This eventually, will take them out of the activities of child labour on cocoa farms, he added.
