Today, 16th June marks the day of the African Child. When I first heard of this I asked myself why the African child and not just the day of the child? History is a wonderful thing because it fills you in events that took place way before you were born. Back in 1976, during the freedom struggles in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />South Africa, thousands of black school children in Soweto, S.A, took to the streets to protest the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language. Shock on them, they were killed and others maimed because of the protest. Thus this day now makes perfect sense, it’s a day in memory of the many black young boys and girls who died while advocating for the rights of black children to good quality education.<?xml:namespace prefix = o />
Today in Kenya, we are far from this goal. We still have hundreds of children who we have employed as house-helps as opposed to putting them in schools. We have hundreds of orphans who we do not think it’s our concern that they are not going to school, after all, we didn’t mother them. The free primary education does not ensure good quality education as we have crowded classes with less teachers who are not even motivated to teach.
It is my prayer that we shall be able to end child and maternal mortality, school dropout, gender inequality and poor quality standards in schools.
Personally I honour all those killed on that day and I admire the courage of all those who marched.
