UNICEF launches child rights reporting curriculum

The United Nations Children’s Fund has introduced the Child Rights Reporting Curriculum, aimed at promoting child rights reporting in Nigeria.

The initiative will integrate child rights reporting into journalism education, ensuring that would-be journalists are equipped to effectively report on child-related issues.

Speaking, at a one-day zonal outreach at the University of Port Harcourt, UNICEF Communication Officer, Dr. Ijeoma Onuoha-Ogwe, emphasized the need for a sustainable and systemic approach to child rights reporting.

Dr Onuoha-Ogwe said the objective of the meeting was to enhance journalism education to include child rights reporting, train lecturers to teach child rights reporting and increase the number of students trained to effectively report child rights.

She noted that the curriculum’s development was timely, following the unbundling of the Mass Communication department by the National Universities Commission a few years ago.

She further said UNICEF’s efforts came amid concerns over child rights violations in Nigeria, including street hawking, child abandonment, and cultural practices that harm children.

She said, “The Child Rights Reporting Curriculum is borne out of the need to promote the reportage for child rights everywhere in Nigeria.

“So we needed a more sustainable and systemic approach, which will have to guide the academic system where we have a large number of students of journalism coming out trained to effectively report child rights everywhere.

“We want to see more universities mainstreaming child’s rights curriculum in Nigeria following the unbundling of the mass communication department by NUC a few years ago in Nigeria.”

“So by this training, we have more lecturers in more universities skilled and able to teach child rights reporting and by that, we are getting more students of journalism getting trained to effectively report child’s rights even when they are done with schooling.”

Meanwhile, the University of Port Harcourt has pledged to lead the charge in promoting child rights awareness in Nigeria, leveraging its Faculty of Communication and Media Studies.

Speaking at the event, Prof. Innocent Ebere-Uwa, representing the Dean of Communication and Media Studies, Prof. Walter Ihejirika, emphasized the urgent need to sensitize Nigerians about child rights.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Prof  Ihejirika described the initiative as “historic” and a significant step towards promoting child rights in Nigeria.

He said, “Defending the lives of children is the pride every adult citizen of the world ought to embrace.”

Ihejirika said, also emphasized the importance of safeguarding children’s fundamental rights.

He averred that the curriculum aims to integrate child rights reporting into journalism education, equipping students with the skills to effectively report child-related issues.

The university don said UNIPORT plans to integrate child rights into media-related courses, utilizing various platforms to promote awareness.

The initiatives, he said, include seminars to educate the public on child rights, particularly for those employing nannies, and film productions highlighting child rights issues.

The event brought together media officers and lecturers from institutions in Rivers and Bayelsa states.