Child Protection Advisor to the UK Immigration Ministry, Dr Prospera Tedam, is urging the Ghana Education Service (GES) to make child protection a compulsory course of study in schools.

According to her, education in child protection will enable children and teacherP expose hidden cases of abuse.

Child Protection involves keeping children safe from abuse and harmful elements of society.

According to Dr Tedam, teachers must equip themselves with expertise in child protection in order to contribute to nurturing confident, strong and healthy children in schools devoid of human rights abuses.

In an interview with Class91.3FM’s Jerry Akornor, the Principal Social Work Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge said the safety of children in schools is critical and cannot be left to the mere code of conduct and goodwill of teachers.

“We need a clear-cut policy or plan [for] every school in Ghana right from early childhood to Senior High Schools to ensure all children are protected. I think that a compulsory module or compulsory course for teaching on it [will do],” she said.

She explained that children are their best keepers, so, “If one child realises that another child is being beaten at home or maybe not being given food or being disproportionately reprimanded or abused by a teacher, they tell someone and share that information”.

She is, therefore, advocating programmes that make children understand the difference between love, discipline, abuse, maltreatment and keeping oneself safe.