YMCI CALLS FOR MEDIA EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
Posted June 16th, 2008 by ymci
JUNE 16: DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD
YMCI CALLS FOR MEDIA EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
The Youth Media and Communication Initiative, (YMCI) an international organisation dedicated to children and media has called for the introduction of media education into the school curriculum in Nigeria as a way of giving voice to children. In a statement to mark the Day of the African Child, 2008, whose theme is Right to Participation - let children be heard and seen, YMCI noted that it is the easiest way for children to participate in national development.
The Day of the African Child has been celebrated every year on 16 June since 1991 as an opportunity for people to reflect on a nation’s progress toward health, education, equality and protection for all African children and on the implementation of the regional African Charter on the Rights of the Child.
Children and youth in Nigeria are among the most marginalized people, yet their profoundly urgent issues remain on the fringe of national debates. This situation needs to change because children want and have the right to speak out; they have fresh and interesting things to do; some issues (such as education, play, child abuse, etc) affect children more than they affect adults, so their opinions and experiences are vital.
According to Chido Onumah, Coordinator of YMCI, “as an organisation whose aim is to train children and youth, using media, as agents for social mobilization and social change and develop their capacity for effective communication and self-expression so that they can positively impact their schools, communities and society, YMCI recognizes the opportunity this year’s celebration presents in drawing attention to issues of children and youth in the country and having these issues addressed as priorities on the political agenda”.
“There have been missed opportunities for Nigeria’s development since independence due to peripheral attention to the youth. It is the young people who have the most at stake as well as the greatest potential and energy to bring about meaningful transformation within their communities and across the country. Too often, however, their powerful capacities are most often evident in destructive force than in meaningful transformation,” noted Onumah. According to Onumah, “one way to overcome this is to foster the culture of dialogue and debate among children and youth through exposure to media and it limitless potentials”.
It is for this reason that YMCI in collaboration with British Council and the National Film & Video Censors Board is organizing the 1st Africa Media Literacy Conference in Abuja on July 30 and 31. Media literacy skills help young people not only to evaluate and respond to the media but to create their own media and tackle their concerns for a more informed and empowered citizenry.
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