The gender co-ordinator for the Korle Klottey Municipal education directorate, Patricia Abotsi, says sports betting and cyber fraud are undermining the education and intellectual growth of male students in the municipality.
She said students absent themselves from school and engage in sports betting.
Abotsi said this at the commemoration of the International Day of the Boy Child in Accra.
The event was held on the theme, “Fostering the development of a generation free from the threat of cyber fraud and sport betting.”
At the event, students were educated on the dangers and negative effects of sports betting and gambling to the boy child.
Abotsi called for the regulation of sports betting to prevent school children from engaging in the act.
She called on parents to partner school authorities to deal with the canker, stressing that, parents have a primary role to ensure their wards do not engage in cyber-crime and betting.
The gender co-ordinator said attention needs to be given to issues affecting the boy-child just like it is done for the girl-child.
“We have been celebrating the girl-child, often leaving the boy-child on his own. This has led to most of these boys finding solace in gambling and betting,” she bemoaned.
The director of the community policing unit of the Ghana Police Service, Oscar Kofi Ameyenku, said the boy-child is vulnerable and prone to offences, hence the need to guided him on the right path.
Ameyenku said under-age betting is illegal. He urged school children not to fall victim to sports betting and cyber fraud because it can destroy their future.
The senior police officer said they will continue to sensitise school children in community schools on the need to eschew sports betting and its adverse effects.
The International Day of the Boy Child is celebrated each year on 16 May.
It was inaugurated in 2018 by Jerome Teelucksingh, a thought leader on gender issues and founder of International Men’s Day. The day focuses on boys and their wellbeing as well as on achieving true gender equality in the world.
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