Posts in category: Top Stories

Apostle Samuel Gyau Oboubi, the General Secretary of The Church of Pentecost, has indicated that the training of children is a shared responsibility between parents, schools, the community and the church.

Speaking on the topic, ‘Train a child the way he should go,’ Apostle Oboubi noted that even though it is the primary responsibility of parents to train a child, schools and churches also have a key role to play in that regard.

The General Secretary said this when speaking at the closing ceremony of a three-day conference organised by the Children’s Ministry of The Church of Pentecost for proprietors of Christian private schools at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.

Referencing Proverbs 22:6, Apostle Obuobi intimated that the foundation of every child is very important. He said just as the foundation of buildings determines what structure to build on it, the kind of foundation a child is given determines the kind of lifestyle he or she will put on. 

Explaining what the Bible means by ‘training up a child,’ he mentioned that it is about starting the training from the very first day the child is born in terms of prayers, learning the scripture and everything godly. It is also to direct children on the right path they should go.

With regards to the way to go, he explained that it has to do with teaching children the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom needed to help them contribute greatly to succussed in this world.

According to him, it is very important to instill the fear of God in children because they live in a generation where people do not fear God and can easily corrupt children.

The second way the chief scribe of the Church mentioned that God expects children to be taught is moral and ethical values, which involves teaching the child that which is right and wrong.

He called on school proprietors to ensure that making money should not be their only motivation for setting up schools, but instilling ethical and moral values in their students, should be their number one priority.

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A Child and Youth Advocate, Mrs Gifty Dansoa Appiah, has drawn the attention of school proprietors and managers to the need to ensure proper child protection as it a necessity for the growth of children.

Making a presentation at the Pentecost convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, Mrs Appiah made references to some research findings to paint a picture of how endemic the issue of child abuse has become in Ghana to patrons of the Conference for Proprietors of Christian Private Schools.

The seasoned Strategy, Development Planning and Management expert explained child safety as the ‘measures and practices in place to protect children from harm, injury, abuse, or danger.’

According to her, Child safety encompasses various aspects of a child’s well-being, including physical, emotional, psychological and social safety.

Mrs Gifty Appiah indicated that child protection is foundational and essential to a child’s proper development because if a child is not protected, every aspect of his life is affected, saying, ‘No child can progress well in areas of education, health, safety, or having good relationships if he or she is afraid all the time of being abused.’

She, therefore, called on proprietors and teachers to recognise that they have a general duty of care to ensure that arrangements are in place to protect children and young people from harm. 

The child and youth advocate revealed that they are called to uphold the biblical mandate of protecting children to prevent harm whenever possible and respond appropriately if faced with the possibility of abuse, neglect or exploitation.

This, she said, is evident in Mark 10:14 which reads, “He said to them, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’” 

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The Director of the Pentecost Hospital-Madina, Apostle Dr Edward Arkoh Koranteng, has sensitised proprietors of Christian private schools on the need to ensure child health and well-being in their schools.

According to Dr Korangteng, proprietors and school managers are part of God’s plan in nurturing great destinies (children) for God’s glory. He disclosed that since every child’s glorious future and destiny revolves around sound health and well-being, there is the need for proprietors to place premium on it, saying, ‘Proprietors need to ensure that every child in their schools is fit holistically in terms of their social, mental and physical well-being.’

Apostle Dr Koranteng was speaking at the maiden Conference for Proprietors of Christian Private Schools organised by the Children’s Ministry of The Church of Pentecost, in collaboration with the church’s Schools Outreach Ministry (SOM) at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh, on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.

In promoting quality health care in schools, he advised participants to request the medical records of the children they admit into their schools to contextualise the children’s individual needs. Such reports, he said, would help teachers to carefully observe children to track their developmental growth.

He also suggested that for proprietors to have a fair idea of the child’s social growth, they need to interact with the parents or guardians of the children occasionally.

‘Constant observation of the children is also needed so the school workers and proprietors must develop eagle eyes towards the children,’ he advised.

Another aspect of child health and well-being that Apostle Dr Koranteng touched on is laying a good foundation of good nutrition in schools. With regard to this, he urged proprietors to make sure that they go above just profit-making and provide nutritious meals to the children. He also asked them to make it a policy to screen the cooks and food handlers periodically to avoid disease outbreaks. He also advised them to put in place a committee to ensure the nutritional needs of the kids are met.

Apostle Dr Koranteng further admonished proprietors to ensure that physical activities take place in the schools to cater for the physical well-being of the children in their care. This, he cautioned, should be under strict supervision to prevent injury.

Touching on mental health, he asked proprietors to make sure that children have a sound mind to learn, are not bullied or threatened in any way.

Apostle Dr. Koranteng urged school owners to make it a point that adequate handwashing facilities are supplied in their schools whilst taking the children through health education.

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