The International Day of the African Child is celebrated every year on June 16 since the year 1991, when it was first introduced by the OAU Organisation of African Unity. The day basically pays tribute and honours those who took part in the Soweto Uprising in the year 1976 on that day.
Not only limited to this, the day also raises awareness of the continuing need for improvement of the education provided to African children.
History of International Day of the African Child
On June 16, 1976, in Soweto, South Africa, there were around ten thousand black school children who marched in a column for more than half a mile long, protesting about the deprived quality of their education as well as demanded for their right to be educated in their own language.
There were hundreds of young students who were shot in the protest, the most famous of which being Hector Pieterson. Even after the following two weeks of the protests, there were more than a hundred people were killed and more than thousand people were injured.
Each year on June 16, the governments, NGOs, international organisations and other stakeholders gather to talk over the challenges as well as new chances facing the complete understanding of the rights of children situated in Africa.
When is International Day of the African Child this year?
This year in 2019, the International Day of the African Child is going to be celebrated on 16th June 2019, Sunday.
Significance of International Day of the African Child
June 16th marks the Day of the African Child. It was initially founded by the Organization of the African Unity in the year 1991. The main aim of the day is to raise the awareness for the situation of children in African, as well as on the need for on-going upgrading in education. The day also encourages and instigates people’s spirit of abundance to share a bit special with the children in Africa.
The day aims to keep up the momentum as well as to build on plans and strategies in order to prevent stillbirths along with providing better care to women and also to the families following stillbirth.
There are around 57 million primary school age children all around the world who are at present out of school and out of these more than half are from sub-Saharan Africa.
The Day of the African Child is not only a day but also an opportunity to raise awareness for the continuing need for improving the education of children who are living all across Africa. It’s a need that still very much happens and exist today.
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