The International Day of African Child Date June 16, Theme, Quotes

The International Day of African Child is a symbol of protest and spirit of demanding proper education to all the children of Africa. It remembers the sacrifice of hundreds of students killed by shootings done by the security forces on a protest to the poor quality education around South Africa.

It recognizes the courage thousands of students had to step up and take their rights themselves. That’s why it is an important day to remember the struggles and our duties to ensure proper education for children around the world.

The International Day of African Child Date

The day of African Child is celebrated on June 16 every year. Education is universal. This cannot be neglected, and cannot be segregated under any means. The Day of African Child helps us remember that we need to ensure proper education for all of our children, always. This day is historically significant and some key points to note about this glorious event are below:

• It honors the spirit and sacrifices of the protesters who were injured and killed in the Soweto uprising in South Africa.
• The day commemorates their historic March of protest on this day, in 1976, to stand before their disapprovals of Black Education Act: which created division among educations based on races.
• This is observed to emphasize on Proper Education as education is universal and each and every child has the right to get proper education
• It helps us stand against discrimination based on gender, sex, colors: any means of segregation and discrimination needs to be stopped
• The day also ensures fair and equal opportunities for everyone. This day helps us remember what we should stand for

Read more: Happy Fathers Day Date

How to Celebrate the International Day of African Child

Such a historic event needs to be celebrated with due dignity. We need to know why and how the march of protests happened, and why lives were lost for demanding the right of education.

We should educate ourselves on why we should protest against the discrimination, segregation and should always make sure that we give compulsory, child-friendly, free, and mandatory education to all children in Africa. Remembering that discrimination of any form should never be tolerated is also a way we should celebrate this event.

The Day of the African Child Quotes

“If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community.” –African proverb.

“Educating girls and giving them the tools to shape their own future has an incredible multiplier effect on economic growth. It leads to increased prosperity not just for individuals but for their communities and their societies. It provides returns for decades.” – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

“For every woman and girl violently attacked, we reduce our humanity. For every woman forced into unprotected sex because men demand this, we destroy dignity and pride. Every woman who has to sell her life for sex we condemn to a lifetime in prison. For every moment we remain silent, we conspire against our women. For every woman infected by HIV, we destroy a generation.” – Nelson Mandela

“There has been a great deal of injustice done to more than 50 per cent of the world’s population. And we need to do something about it. I mean it’s stupid! It’s stupid for us to sideline 50 per cent! What is wrong with your mathematics? Fifty per cent you shove to the side. It doesn’t make sense at all!”- Desmond Tutu.

“I am not always happy seeing children out of school; it is a signpost to poverty and bleak future. We need involvement of first Ladies, mothers, School owners and all change-agents to ensure that the girl-child is allowed to have quality education and acquire skills that would make her a wholesome person to herself and the nation at large.” Nigeria-American prodigy, Oduwole Zuriel.

“One of the most important steps countries can take to drive progress is to ensure and improve the political, economic and social rights and opportunities of women. Africa has achieved notable economic growth in recent years. To be sustained, that growth must be inclusive, and translate into concrete improvements in the lives of women, men and children.” United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Helen Clark.

“We know that girls’ education is vital because educated girls become better mothers, have fewer, healthier children. Every additional year of schooling reduces the probability of child mortality by 5-10 per cent.” – UNICEF’s Communication’s Specialist, Geoffrey Njoku.

“An empowered woman is a productive woman, a health seeking woman, and therefore a woman who can be entrusted with the survival and wellbeing of herself and her family.” –Toyin Saraki.

To every child – I dream of a world where you can laugh, dance, sing, learn, live in peace and be happy. — Malala Yousafzai

It’s not a nice-to-have – it’s a must-have. It’s time we stop treating child care as a side issue, or a women’s issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us. — Barack Obama

They say that abandonment is a wound that never heals. I say only that an abandoned child never forgets. — Mario Balotelli

I was one of those children forced into fighting at the age of 13, in my country Sierra Leone, a war that claimed the lives of my mother, father and two brothers. I know too well the emotional, psychological and physical burden that comes with being exposed to violence as a child or at any age for that matter. — Ishmael Beah

The impact of armed conflict on children is everyone’s responsibility. And it must be everyone’s concern. — Graca Machel

We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to conserve the environment so that we can bequeath our children a sustainable world that benefits all. — Wangari Maathai

The one who beats children should not be entrusted with children. — Uganda Proverb

Day Of The African Child 2024 Theme

“Access to a Child-Friendly Justice System in Africa” theme for the Day of the African Child 2024. The day aims at raising awareness for the situation of children in African, and on the need for continuing improvement in education. It encourages people’s spirit of abundance to share something special with a child in Africa.

Conclusion

The International Day of African child is an example of valor and sacrifice. Thus, knowing about such a historic event is necessary. We should commemorate this day and live our lives with the spirit of never giving up on the wrongdoings we find ourselves among in our societies. In order to safe-keep a better future, we need to stand up for the rights of our children, always.