Talatona — The Angolan government plans to increase the attendance rate of the second stage of pre-school education to 46% by 2050, said Saturday in Luanda, capital city, the secretary of State for Secondary Education, Gildo Matias José.
The government official, who was speaking at the meeting on Reflection on Children in Angola, promoted by the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the World "The Tocoistas", noted that the target was to reach a rate of 90% in enrolments for the first stage by building over 260,000 classrooms with adequate equipment and increase the average schooling level from four to six years.
He added that the government aims to assure that the pre-primary education is practiced by qualified nursery school teachers, so as to reach the number of 700 trained teachers.
The Deputy Commissioner of the National Police, Luísa Paim, who spoke on the theme "Child Trafficking - Prevention, Protection and Assistance to Victims", pointed out some ways to act against child traffickers based on enticing advertisements on the internet regarding romances and employment agencies that result in abductions, child exploitation, forced labour and extraction of organs for commercialisation.
To her, to reduce such practices, it is necessary to empower families, strengthen the quality in the education system and ensure more comprehensive schooling for school-age members of society.
Cristovão Quiombo, the Head of the Telecommunications and Digital Transformation Department, who spoke about the "Use of information and communication technologies by children and teenagers: Risks and Opportunities", advised parents to use the Parental Control software, in order to control the websites that children have been accessing.
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He warned that ICTs carry with them multiple risks that can result in violation of privacy, misinformation, addiction, social isolation, among others.
To Professor at the Tocoista Higher Education Polytechnic Institute, Carlos Mariano Manuel, the families' social instability, as well as lack of financial conditions are the main factors that contribute to worsening the situation of vulnerability of children and teenagers.
The meeting to reflect on children in Angola, which started Friday, was framed in the celebration of the Tocoista Church children's day, which was marked on 20 May, as well as to celebrate the International Day of the African Child, June 16.
The International Day of the African Child was established in honour of the South African children who were killed during a march of young black students demanding better teaching and learning conditions, called the Soweto Uprising, which took place in Johannesburg. GIZ.MAG/MRA/jmc
