ILO enrols children at risk to school in Ondo
The International Labour Organization has completed the renovation of Oke Agunla Community School in Ondo State and enrolled a total of 110 children in the community who are at risk of child labor.
This was stated in a statement provided to our correspondent on Friday.
Vanessa Phala, Director of the ILO Abuja Country Office for Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nigeria, revealed at the handover of the newly renovated school that nearly 28% of children aged five to 11 years, and 35% of children aged 12 to 14 years, were out of school.
According to the most recent National modular child labor survey country report, there are approximately 15 million children working in Nigeria, with approximately 6 million in child labor and half trapped in hazardous work.
"Today is a significant demonstration of the importance of education in the elimination of child labor, as emphasized in ILO Convention 182, on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor," Phala said.
"The impact of our children's indecent exposure to unfair labor practices is visible in our collective safety and development, as out-of-school children are vulnerable to the negative influences of criminals who use their innocence to sustain criminal activities from generation to generation."
The Director explained that the ACCEL Project supported the enrollment and re-enrollment in school of 110 children at risk of child labor in Oke Agunla as part of the Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour Africa project funded by the Government of the Netherlands. The children have also received back-to-school kits (school bags, textbooks, uniforms, notebooks, sandals, and socks), and their interest in attending school has increased.
"However, this interest in school was dampened by the inadequate situation of the community primary school. As a result, the project decided to contribute to the renovation of this school in order to increase school attendance and academic performance for the children," Phala explained.
She hoped that Oke-children Agunla's would grow up to be the leaders their village desired, as well as citizens of whom their country could be proud.
The Coordinator of Ondo State Operations Coordinating Unit, Olaoluwa Bankole, represented the Ondo State Government and assured the team that the government would complement ILO-generous ACCEL's gestures by addressing the school's staff shortage.
He expressed the Ondo State Government's gratitude to ILO-ACCEL Africa for their tremendous support to quality education in the state through the renovation of the Oke Agunla Community School in Ondo State.
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