UNICEF has announced that it has developed a Child Rights Reporting course for adoption in mass communication departments of Nigerian universities and polytechnics. This is in line with the global agency’s principles and guidelines for media reporting on children. Geoffrey Njoku, who works with UNICEF, disclosed on March 23, 2023, that UNICEF collaborated with the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to include the course in all the unbundled mass communication courses.
NUC is the agency responsible for the accreditation of courses in Nigerian universities. The commission had split mass communication into seven distinct courses. They are Journalism and Media Studies, Public Relations, Advertising, Broadcasting, Film and Multimedia Studies, Development Communication Studies, and Information and Media Studies. Now, UNICEF is organizing training for personnel to integrate the course in all these seven courses. This is in the hope that it would empower journalists-in-training with the capacity and understanding of the issues around child rights and how to report them in the media.
Nnamdi Azikwe University is working to domesticate the course.
Mr. Njoku said the global agency is training lecturers at Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka because the university has domesticated the course into its journalism curriculum and the general studies course. They also hope to train polytechnic lecturers before the end of 2023. Mr. Njoku confirmed that when NUC was unbundling mass communication in universities, the agency was part and parcel of it. He stated that UNICEF is providing these personnel with the initial orientation and training to enable those to run the courses start.
A lecturer at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) and facilitator at the training, Jide Johnson, confirmed in an interview that the course has been included in the general studies for all first-year and second-year National Diploma (ND) students of mass communication in the polytechnics. At the Higher National Diploma (HND) level where mass communication has been unbundled into three courses, students of all the three departments are to study Child Rights Reporting as a course. Mr. Johnson stated that he was part of the team that developed the curriculum, a process he started in 2016.
Children still face abuse despite the Child Rights Act.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo assented to the Child Rights Act in September 2003. As of 2023, Kano and Zamfara States are yet to assent to the bill. Chief of Field Officer at UNICEF’s Enugu office, Juliet Chiluwe, said that children still face a broad range of abuse, which emanates from ignorance of what constitutes a child’s right. In her presentation at the training, she commended Nnamdi Azikwe University for mainstreaming the child rights course in its curriculum and urged other universities to adopt the same measure.
According to UNICEF, media reporting on children and young people, should never expose them to risk. Because of this, the UN agency has developed principles and guidelines to help reporters and journalists report on children’s issues in such a way that the public’s interest is served without compromising the rights of children. The agency has developed six overall principles to follow, six guidelines for interviewing children, and seven principles for reporting on children’s issues. The first and most vital principle for media practitioners is to respect the dignity and rights of every child in every circumstance.
The guidelines for reporting on children are clearly highlighted by UNICEF.
UNICEF has published the guidelines for interviewing children and reporting on their issues in the media. Some of them include: not harming the child, avoiding questions or comments that are insensitive or judgmental, not discriminating, obtaining permission from the child and the child’s guardian before interviewing them, and avoiding staging. To report on any child’s issues, the report should not stigmatize the child, should always provide an accurate context, and should protect the identity of the child, such as name, sex, health status, etc. These principles and guidelines are part of what universities and polytechnics are to adopt as a course for the benefit of all children.
Related Link
UNICEF: Website
UNICEF creates child rights reporting course – Nnamdi Azikwe University is first to adopt it in journalism and general studies. – Express your point of view.
The UNICEF child reporting course is a great course introducted to our tertiary institutions which will help journalist to be will trained in writing reports on child abuse, labour and child right infringement.
I applaud the UNICEF on this child right reporting course. It shows they really want to be involved in the child’s right as never before. Anyone that maltreats children can now be reported easily.
The course is expected to provide reporters with essential knowledge on child rights, including international laws and standards that underpin the promotion and protection of children’s rights. UNICEF’s initiative is a commendable one that will contribute to better reporting on child rights issues worldwide. By producing more in-depth and ethical stories, stakeholders and policymakers will begin to take note of the need to recognize and uphold children’s rights.
Good one from UNICEF, creating and bring in new reporting course to Nigeria Universities. This initiative is a very good one for us
This is nice unicef are really doing a good work trying all mean to be protecting children from any maltreat happening to them it will be a nice course
Bring the new course child right to university is a nice and great idea all this child abuse happen to children will be learn and study about it
Kudos to UNICEF for establishing such a great and advantageous course. The child reporting course will serve as a protection avenue.
Studying Child Rights Reporting as a course will let the student be more aware and understand what a child right fully entails and saved them from been robbed off there rights.
It’s great to see UNICEF putting forth so much effort to ensure that no child is subjected to abuse or neglect.
To better prepare future journalists to cover issues such as child abuse, child labor, and child rights violations, our universities should grant the UNICEF child reporting course.
The UNICEF’s new approach to reporting on children’s rights is commendable. This demonstrates an unprecedented level of interest in advocating for the child’s best interests. It is now much simpler to report anyone suspected of child abuse.
This is set up is well overdue and this is so because most of the developing countries doesn’t take it serious before but with this help of the UNICEF lots will be archive and it will also change scope of things in general.
It is becoming interesting that the UNICEF has finally announced that it has developed a Child Rights Reporting course for adoption in mass communication departments of Nigerian universities. It will help the journalist to appropriately report every form of child labour, abuses and child right infringement.
The UNICEF Child Reporting Course is a fantastic course that has been introduced to our higher education institutions and will assist journalists in becoming trained in producing stories on child abuse, labor, and child rights violations.