Parents in Samburu County have been asked to enroll all their children to school and stop retrogressive cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child marriages and child labour that keeps children out of school. Speaking in Wamba North in Samburu East Sub County during a sensitisation exercise on children’s rights, Peter Mwangi from the Directorate of Children Services cautioned parents from breaching the Children’s Act 2022 which guarantees the right to education for all children in the country. Mr Mwangi cautioned parents against enrolling a few of their children to school while others are left at home looking after livestock or burning charcoal to sell in trading centers and after they reach puberty they are married off. ‘There is a law that guarantees the right to education and protection of all children and failure to enroll all your children to school is punishable by law,’ he told the parents. Further, Mwangi lauded the intervention of non-state actors in Samburu County in complementing the government’s efforts in addressing children’s issues and implementing the children act 2022. ‘The Samburu community is transforming gradually as far as child protection is concerned, this is through the government’s efforts and the non-state actors interventions to implement the children’s act 2022 to the letter,’ he said. The children Officer added that his department has already started the process of formulating a Child Protection Policy that is aligned to the unique challenges facing children in Samburu County. Julius Lekaaso 61, from Swari village welcomed the sensitisation drive saying that many elderly people especially in the remote parts of the county view children as property. ‘We are now aware that children have rights and we should educate them to have a better future,’ he said.
Source: Kenya News Agency