Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office.

  • Colonial Office
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Gold Coast / Colonial Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/130 page 44
    are assisted by the Department, but require more help than the recent staffing position has permitted. A senior Government officer has been attached to the office of the Gold Coast Commissioner in London. His main responsibility is the welfare of Gold Coast artisans who are undergoing special training in various parts of the United Kingdom. Day nurseries are established in Accra, Sekondi/Takoradi and Koforidua, and at Kumasi and Berekum in Ashanti. In the main these are managed by local committees aided by advice from officers of the Department. Five youth clubs have been started in urban areas. The need for this activity is very real and more clubs will be opened as voluntary leaders become available. Personal welfare services for the needy and afflicted are available in the Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi/Takoradi areas. The volume of work is limited, but this activity is increasing as trained case-workers become available. The Gold Coast Legion, the leprosy authorities, the Blind School at Akropong and similar agencies both in West Africa and Europe have made use of the service during the year. Investigations are undertaken on behalf of other departments of Government where the service of a trained worker is required. Emphasis is laid on voluntary services to the community wherever possible. The older established agencies such as the Child Care Society and the Society of Friends of Lepers have expanded their activities. It is the policy of the Department to maintain the closest possible liaison between its activities and those of voluntary agencies, some of which receive grants to assist with administrative expenses. At the request of the Junior Civil Servants Association, Staff Welfare Officers have been appointed in Accra, Sekondi and Kumasi. The services of these officers are available to all civil servants requiring help with accommodation and other problems in their respective areas. Probation and Juvenile delinquency services The services of probation and supervision under the Social Welfare Department have been extended to cover the adult courts of Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi and Koforidua. This is in addition to the Juvenile Courts in these towns, the majority of which have had these services since 1948. Each probation area is served by a Probation Committee of six members, specially chosen from the Juvenile Court Panel under the chairmanship of the District Magistrate. The numbers coming before Juvenile Courts are increasing and, although there are signs of an increase in offences committed by the young, the numbers are swollen by an increase in cases in need of care and protection. During the year a large remand home for 40 juveniles was built near Sekondi by boys undergoing detention at the Boys’ Industrial School at Swedru. This will serve the Sekondi Magisterial District and means that it will be possible to concentrate on the problems of youth in the seaport town of Takoradi. Remand and probation homes also exist at Accra and Kumasi.
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