N.C.F.C. has open day on its activities
In other news, you don’t hear about them very often, but for over a decade the National Committee for Families and Children has been acting as the major advisory body to the government on families and children’s issues. Today the organization updated the public on its activities and progress. Kendra Griffith reports.
Student #1
“Did you know that drugs and alcohol are mainly used adolescents that have influenced crime?”
Student #2
“Did you know that the impact of crime and violence is significant on the student population in Belize?”
Kendra Griffith, Reporting
Drugs, crime, sexual exploitation and violence are only some of the issues affecting children and adolescents in Belize… another is child labour.
Steve Enendu, Coord., ILO/IPEC Child Labour Project
“Six percent of all Belizean children are involved in child labour. Out of that six percent, forty percent are found in Toledo. When it comes to the Toledo District, the most affect areas are Big Falls, the Dump area and San Antonio.”
One of those children is Olga Ich of Big Falls Toledo.
Olga Ich, Participant, Child Labour Program
“I come from a family of five; four girls and one boy. My dad is a subsistence farmer, my mother is a housewife. I began my primary education in 1995, but had to stop in 2003 due to financial difficulties.”
For two years, Olga worked as a shop attendant and did other odd jobs to help support her family. Fortunately, for Ich, she was one of seventy-two children chosen to participate in an ILO/IPEC Child Labour Programme in Toledo.
Olga Ich
“In 2006, I sat the P.S.E. and got the highest score in my school. I was the valedictorian at Big Falls R.C. School in 2006. this gacve me more courage and with the help of this program, I was able to move on to secondary school at the Toledo Community College. I am presently in third year, business department, looking forward to my fourth year with much hope and excitement. I plan to take nine CXCs… and move on to UB to fulfill my life ambition of becoming a chartered accountant.”
The problems faced by Olga and her peers fall within the realm of the National Committee for Families and Children which monitors the country’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Families and Children’s Act, and coordinates the implementation of the National Plan of Action for Children and Adolescents. So when the obviously successful programme ended a year later, the N.C.F.C. took up the torch.
Steve Enendu
“After the first year, six of our students finished in first place in their different schools. So NCFC took the case to the Ministry of Education. By then the Ministry of Education saw the results and said we will pick up their fees and the Labour Department decided to source for uniform and books. We pay their tuition, we provide books, and we provide uniform. Since 2005, we have graduated eight students from high school and two from the primary. This year is when we will actually have the highest number of students in fourth form; we have seventy-two students that will be taking CXC that will be graduating this year. The program actually is winding down; this will the—we will have the highest number of students. By next year it will come down to three or four.”
Although coming to an end, that program and many others were highlighted at an N.C.F.C. open day held this morning at the Bliss.
Pearl Stuart, Executive Dir., N.C.F.C.
“Today’s open day was deliberately set for November twentieth. As those of you many know, today is Universal Children’s Day. But particularly, here in Belize we are celebrating it and no better way than to have N.C.F.C., who represents families and children, to have an open day spearheading what we do at N.C.F.C.”
Paulette Wade, Monitoring & Evaluation Prog. Coord., NCFC
“We are not sleeping, we are still working for children and adolescents and there are things in place. As I said, we have the teen reporters, we have Kid-o-Rama, and we have Facts for Families that comes on every Monday on Love FM. There are many legislations that we are working on; legal reforms I should say. We have the legal reform for CSEC that we are presently working on. We are also working on the Child Labour Policy to reduce the number of children in child labour.”
Pearl Stuart is the Executive Director of the NCFC.
Pearl Stuart
“I hear about grenades and I hear about gangs and violence that we are having and I would say for those children it’s not looking too well. But on the other hand, look on the positive side. I was exposed within the last couple of days to some very positive minded children; children that are headed in the right direction and I think it’s our obligation as a people to make sure those that are not in that same lane get in that lane; the lane in the right direction and going to where they are indeed respected and they have the responsibilities and all that is called for on the Conventional Rights of a Child. All our children should be going in that direction.”
The N.C.F.C. also has also upgraded its website at www.ncfc.org.bz. Kendra Griffith reporting for News Five.
The NCFC will release a monitoring and evaluation report on the National Plan of Action early next year which will show what progress has been made since 2004.
