Kuntanase (Ash), Jan 12, GNA - Some 40 child panels have been formed in communities in the Bosomtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma district of Ashanti Region, Mr Ted Oppong, the District Focal Person on Child Panel Issues, has said.

The panels, he said, would deliberate on child issues with emphasis on the disabled in the communities so as to eliminate the brutalities meted out to them and ensure that their rights are not abused.

Speaking at a meeting of the district child panel committee at Kuntanase to review and evaluate its activities and performance, Mr Oppong called on parents to uphold the rights of their children to education and welfare no matter their condition. This, he said, was the only way to eradicate child abuse, neglect and abandonment.

Mr Maxwell Kuffour, the District Social Welfare Officer, asked parents to desist from shunning their disabled children and rather give them equal opportunity as their able-bodied children. "No child is useless be he blind, deaf, dumb, cripple and even mentally retarded", Mr Kuffour said.