As part of efforts to ensure that children’s rights were protected in the country, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Delta Chapter, on Friday took their advocacy to secondary schools in Delta.
Chairman of the group, Prince Kehinde Taiga who led the team to Essi College 11, Warri said, they decided to take the campaigns to the secondary schools across the state because they believed the children should know about their rights.
He said most times teachers violate the rights of the students without them knowing it, adding that with this advocacy the children would be able to speak up each time their rights are violated.
“The children also have rights. You have to take them as your own children. Teachers must know the whereabouts of their students at all times. You must have teacher and student relationships. This is very important because when a student hates a teacher, he/she may lose interest in that particular subjects that that teacher is teaching,” Taiga said.
He said the advocacy was not only for the students but also for the teachers too, insisting that the teachers have a role to play in ensuring that the rights of the children were protected at all times.
The CDHR Chairman also told the teachers that they should stand and fight for their rights each time the state government infringes on their rights by not giving them their entitlements.
He said it was the duty of teachers to teach the children their rights as well as guide them whenever they are going astray,
He however, warned the teachers against acts of extortion, saying that by extorting monies from the children they were infringing on the rights of the children.
Taiga also blamed the extortion of students by teachers in various schools on the state government, saying that the inability of government to pay teachers salaries has led to stealing and corruption in the schools.
“It is even worse with the male teachers who are the bread winners of their families. I have not seen any teacher bought a car or built a house without taking loans,”Taiga said.
CDHR Child Rights Coordinator, Aghogho Ighorhiowhunu, while addressing the students, urged the students to shun vices that were inimical to the well-being of their lives.
Responding, the Principal of Essi College II, Mrs. Magret Boyowa Oputu thanked the CDHR for the sensitization programme, promising that what they have learned would go a long way in preparing the minds of the teachers and students on what to do whenever their rights were being infringed on.
