Let’s give boys enabling environment to share problems

Madam Grace Bandoh, a retired Prosecutor and Police Officer, has called for an enabling environment for boys to share their problems, especially abuses.

She said that was the only way to help them build trust and confidently report abuses against them in society.

Madam Bandoh told the Ghana Agency in an interview that boys were ignorant of the appropriate people they could report abuses to; therefore, they hide and endure them.

"The boys have the fear of people spreading and using their problems against them after they had confided in them," she stated and said the narrative must change to end abuses against boys.

The retired Prosecutor appealed to teachers and parents to build cordial relationships with the boy child to make them comfortable to approach them.
Madam Bandoh noted that when a child did not have a good environment to study due to bullying and other forms of abuses, they lose focus in their studies and other school activities.

"Once they see the perpetrator in class or on the school compound, they will become intimidated, afraid and their spirits will be dampened,’’ she said.
Madam Bandoh encouraged teachers to be observant and concerned about other aspects of the lives of pupils and students in addition to their academic development.

Mr. Ebenezer Terpkeh, Education Portfolio Advisor, MTN Ghana Foundation, after an event on ending abuses against the boy child, appealed to the Ghana Education Service to invest in and prioritise counselling of students.

He noted that the counselling centres or offices in the basic schools were not effective, hence, the pupils did not know what to do when they faced challenges.
‘‘They only exist as positions in the school, you will not see them as offices that children could confidently walk into to get support," he said.

Mr. Terkpeh underscored the need for boys to be provided with support, including counselling to help in their development.