Include the boy child in UN plans

Mmegi Editor | Monday October 16, 2023 06:00

Every year, the world commemorates the Day of the Girl Child and speaks to pertinent issues in the lives of the Girl Child. The opportunity also offers the girls a platform to assert themselves in their journey to adulthood.

This week’s commemorations were excitedly different from the previous years in that the UN family and stakeholders went an extra mile by introducing job shadowing into the programme, which gave the girls a historic experience in the world of work. We take this opportunity to thank all those who gave the girls an experience of their lifetime at the work place.

We, as a newspaper, are also elated in that we hosted two young girls as part of this inaugural campaign. This will go a long way into possibly according the girls an opportunity to make career choices at an early stage.

Hundreds of young girls representing their peers from many parts of the country on Wednesday evening congregated at the Avani Hotel and Resort in the heart of the capital city. Clad in their school uniforms, they mingled with some women captains of the industry, diplomatic corps and other top civil servants just to motivate them that they can also make it in life. This was indeed powerful and encouraging to the girl children.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Miriam Maroba made a pledge that her ministry will institutionalise job shadowing to ensure that the girls use it on October 11 every year. This week’s pampering of the girl children, who in most cases are vulnerable to abuse by their male counterparts, might have left the boy children green with envy.

We have noted that whilst the boy children are often associated with distress at schools and homes, the UN is yet to dedicate a day in the name of the Boy Child. There is no doubt that the boys need to be properly mentored from their homes and at school especially on how to conduct themselves and live peacefully with their sisters. A Day of the Boy Child will offer authorities an opportunity to understand the issues of the boy children better.

We recently saw a circulating video in which a male student at one of the secondary schools applied his masculinity on a fellow girl student. In the video, the boy is seen whipping the girl continuously on the head with a belt and slapped her just in front of the peers who chose to take a video and cheer the abuser. It’s important for the boys and girls to grow up as sisters and brothers without the masculinity and femininity incursions. This would make the world a better place without the many acts of abuse that separate boys and girls. UN family, please do something!

Today's thought

“Society is unity in diversity.”

– George Herbert Mead