Awutu Beraku (C/R), June 5, GNA - The Bawjiase Area Plan Ghana, has embarked on an advocacy campaign dubbed "learn without fear" to create a safer school environment for children.

A 13-member steering committee headed by Nacyi Barfowa, Queen Mother of Awutu Papase, was inaugurated to carry out the education on the harmful effects of child sexual abuse, which recent researches had revealed to be higher in the Awutu-Senya and Effutu districts of the Central Region and the Upper Manya Krobo district of the Eastern Region.

Mr Joseph Assan, Bawjiase Area Manager of Plan Ghana, said this at the inauguration of the committee at Fetteh Kakraba near Awutu Beraku, under the theme "Stop Child Abuse Now".

Mr Assan said sub-committees would be formed in the Gomoa East and West, Agona East and West, and Effutu and Awutu-Senya to educate the people. Mr Assan said the research indicated that the major causes of child sexual abuses were household poverty, sexual pressure, lack of parental care and control, and peer pressure.

He said parents, community opinion leaders, and institutions such as the police, district assemblies, health workers and teachers, have been identified as the first point of contact when a child is sexually abused. He advocated that such persons needed to be trained on how to identify and handle forms of child abuses cases.

The Awutu-Senya District Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit of the Ghana Police Service (DOVVSU), Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Florence Anaman, said Ghanaians needed a pragmatic preventive approach to address child sexual abuse in the society. She said some children were still ignorant about the abuses and fell prey to them, adding that, it was the responsibility of the people to be aware of the dangers of child sexual abuse.

The Omankrado of Feteh Kakraba, Nana Kwame Okyere I, who chaired the programme, urged school children to be serious with their studies and stop watching television and other pornographic films. Members of the committee comprised representative from traditional rulers, educationists, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and officials of some district assemblies. Earlier school children from the area who attended the programme, went on a float with placards to register their protest against child sexual abuse. 5 June 10