President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday opened the 27th session of the Junior Parliament of Zimbabwe as part of commemorations of the Day of the African Child by promising free compulsory basic education for all children.<\/p>\n
Mnangagwa told the young Parliamentarians in Harare that his government would work round the clock to protect and promote the interests and rights of children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am always ready to listen to you, our children, with a view to addressing your concerns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe future is ours together. As we celebrate the African Child, we intend to promote children\u2019s rights in all areas of health, education, social responsibilities. We are determined to ensure that matters relating to children are dealt with amicably,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mnangagwa said his government would offer free but compulsory basic education for children and build more schools to make his vision possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are committing to create access to good health, creating employment for our youth. We want to have a culture of innovation and also encourages our youth to adopt a new curriculum in order to build the Zimbabwe we want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Day of the African Child was initiated in 1991 by the then Organisation of African Unity Assembly and they designated June 16 in honour of children who participated in South Africa\u2019s Soweto Uprising in 1976. This year\u2019s theme is: Humanitarian Action in Africa: Children\u2019s Rights First.<\/p>\n
Health and Child Care minister Obadiah Moyo said children should discuss issues of sexual health with their guardians before proceeding to the hospital or clinics.<\/p>\n
Moyo said the ministry did not want to see a child who had contracted a sexually transmitted disease going to a hospital or clinics unaccompanied.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will make sure condoms are available, but as the ministry we encourage abstinence. We say no to early marriages, we are against 12 years as age of consent, but as the ministry we recognise 18 years as the age of legal consent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Child President Mukudzeishe Madzivire chronicled challenges distracting children from focusing on their education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday opened the 27th session of the Junior Parliament of Zimbabwe as part of commemorations of the Day of the African Child by promising free compulsory basic education for all children. Mnangagwa told the young Parliamentarians in Harare that his government would work round the clock to protect and promote the interests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[32,55,31,217],"class_list":{"0":"post-10137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-government","11":"tag-mnangagwa","12":"tag-schools"},"yoast_head":"\n