According to UNICEF, street child is any child under the age of 18 for whom the street has become home and/or source of income and which is not adequately protected or supervised by adult, responsible person. It has been estimated that there are between 100 and 150 million street children worldwide and in Ghana currently, about sixty-one thousand four hundred and ninety-two (61,492) children are on the streets of Accra struggling to make ends meet. Of this number, 43% are males with 57% being females.
A large number of these children can be found in central Accra, Kwame Nkrumah circle, Kumasi, Tamale and other major cities across the country. The highest number of street children, recorded to be 28.53% in Accra, is found to have come from the Northern Region and the lowest recorded, 2.38%, to have come from the Brong and Ahafo regions.
There are many root causes for the increase in the number of children living on the streets of Accra as well as the other major cities and these root causes are very much related. A number of these causes are strongly connected to power and privilege. Some children are on the streets because they were subjected to a certain level of power in the house and they believe that the street will be a place with little or no power. Others are underprivileged and have taken to the streets in search of money. Most underprivileged children are also homeless because of the impact of divorce, death of a parent(s) or parent(s) inability to cater for their children.
The following, however, can be attributed to children living on the streets: poverty, parental neglect, urbanization, rural-urban migration, second generational street children, that is, children born to parents who are on the streets, truancy.
The big question we want an answer to is who is responsible for these children on the streets? Parents, Government, Charity organizations, Religious bodies, etc. are all institutions many tend to point fingers at to be responsible or extend some of benevolence to these children on the streets. But in reality, where exactly lies the root cause of this canker.
A very significant factor and alarming cause for street children is poverty. Poverty relates most of the other causes including parental neglect and rural-urban migration. Poverty is a handicap which affects a lot of rural folks and a lot of these rural folks tend to have large family sizes. If people living in underprivileged and rural areas have a good, constant source of livelihood, they will be able to cater for their children and the need for these children to troop down to the streets will be minimised.
Another critical factor is the no or lack of access to educational facilities in most rural areas across the country. Children deprived of education results in truancy leading them to the streets. If government or religious bodies or individuals or any other group in the society will see the need to provide educational facilities as well as resources in these communities, the rate of enrolment in schools will increase and reduce the number of street children.
The onus, therefore, does not lie with one person. Everybody in the society has a stake in dealing with this menace called street children. If families, government, religious bodies, charity organization, well-wishing individuals can all come together to deliberate on how to get most of these children, if not all, off the streets and into homes and schools, there will be a great story to tell.
In all, the society should come together as a unit and get our children off the street. It will not be an easy battle but victory is assured in the end.
