Protect the inalienable rights of our children

It is an undeniable fact that the future of any nation rests in the hands of its young, which is to say, if we mess up today’s children, we are in effect messing up the future of our country.

Due to its effort to put all school-going age children in primary school, Tanzania has been receiving international accolades. Enrolment in primary schools stood at 8,336,386 students in 2011.

There has been a commendable increase in the number of children going to secondary school, with the gross enrolment ratio improving from 20.2 per cent in 2006 to 50.2 per cent in 2011. The number of university students grew from about 45,500 in 2005/06 to about 139,600 in 2010/11.

We, however, have to contend with the issue of quality, what with reports showing that there are thousands of primary school-leavers, including those who get admission to Form One, who can neither read nor write!

It means that, much as we boast high primary school enrolment, Tanzania shall still be part of the damning projection showing that by 2015, at least 26 per cent of all illiterate adults in the world will be in sub-Saharan Africa.

Recent local media reports have also exposed the situation of the Tanzanian child’s safety, like the case of “box child” Nasra Rashid of Morogoro, who died two weeks ago aged four, from health complications associated with a three-year-plus confinement in a box by foster parents.

Or, the case of Yusta Lucas, 20, who, from the age of 17 until two weeks ago, suffered beatings and flat iron burns in the hands of a relative for whom she worked as a house help!

As we seek to fulfil the quest of this year’s Day of the African Child theme which is “A child-friendly, quality, free and compulsory education for all children in Africa”, Tanzania must also contend with the issue of children’s physical safety.