Kumasi, May 03, GNA - The Youth Development Foundation (YDF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) has since last year managed to withdraw 315 child labourers in the Kumasi metropolis from their menial jobs and integrated them into various schools and institutions to acquire knowledge and vocational training.

Mr Nelson Agyemang, Chief Executive Officer of the YDF, who disclosed this, said majority of them had already been enrolled in the formal schools with the remaining in non-formal schools and vocational training institutions.

He made the disclosure at the launch of a Baseline Survey Report by the YDF in Kumasi at the weekend on Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) for the prevention of HIV/AIDS, conducted in the Kumasi metropolis.

School fees, uniforms and feeding cost are all borne by the YDF and in some cases, accommodation provided free of charge, he added. Mr Agyemang said apart from the support being extended to child labourers, the foundation was also currently assisting in the education of 100 street children in regular schools within the metropolis. He noted that 50 of them have also been integrated into vocational institutes to acquire skills in various trades.

He, however, said it was realised that some of the street children mobbed up by the YDF for assistance in the form of education did not fit into the regular school system in view of their peculiar situation. Mr Agyemang said to address the problem, the YDF had to resort to setting up its own school to respond to the special needs of such children in order to pave way for them to benefit from normal education. Launching the Baseline Survey Report earlier, Mr A.K. Edusei, a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), entreated Ghanaians not to lose hope nor look indifferent in their search for a cure or means of reducing the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He said even though the disease was devastating and currently had no known cure, it was still very possible to reduce its spread by adopting a change in behaviour towards sexual activities at all levels.