The Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare has integrated 214 children living and working on the streets into different schools across the country this year alone.
Speaking at a media briefing on the psychosocial programme for children living and working in the streets at Witvlei in the Omaheke Region on Friday, minister Doreen Sioka said through the ministry’s after-school centre in Windhoek, a total of 214 children living and working on the streets were integrated into different schools in the Khomas, Hardap, Omaheke and Otjozondjupa regions thus far in 2022.
Sioka stressed that the phenomenon of children on the streets is a growing concern as the number continues to increase, especially in urban areas, where they routinely survive by getting their needs met through begging for money from motorists.
She noted that although children on the street are predominantly boys, but that the number of girls was rising, with some children’s ages ranging between 12-16 years.
“The growing challenge is the use of substances, primarily petrol sniffing, alcohol and drugs. They are subjected to social, physical, sexual and emotional abuse,” she noted.
She highlighted that circumstances leading children to the streets include family breakdown, abuse and neglect at home, sensation seeking, peer pressure, poverty and rural-urban migration, amongst others.
Sioka indicated that in order to assist the young people on the streets that cannot be integrated into schools due to their age and other complexities, her ministry, through the land ministry in 2015, acquired farm Kaukurus in Witvlei, with the aim of developing and turning it into a fully-fledged rehabilitation centre.
She noted that the centre will provide psychosocial support, literacy programs, pre-vocational training, recreational and art activities, amongst others. hygiene and personal appearance, health programs will also help ensure that children living on the streets are rehabilitated and integrated back into society and become productive citizens.
Sioka also indicated that currently the centre is temporarily hosting 19 children without homes during school holidays.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
