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Life Skills
Section 2: Rights & Protection
Module 1:

Child Rights & Responsibilities

What You'll Learn?

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Define “child rights” and “responsibilities.”
Explain the relationship between rights and responsibilities.
Identify examples of rights at school, home, and in the community.
Describe how laws protect children’s rights in The Gambia.
Demonstrate fairness and empathy toward others.
Materials
Story Handout – “Mariama and the School Garden”
Rights & Responsibilities Cards
Flipchart / Markers
My Rights Circle Worksheet
Child-friendly visuals from UNICEF CRC resource folder
Helpline Poster (199 & 1313)

Methodology

  • Participatory discussion
  • Group work
  • Storytelling
  • Role-play
  • Visual mapping
  • Peer learning

Introduction

Children in The Gambia have rights to education, protection, and participation guaranteed by international and national laws. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) — adopted in 1989 and ratified by The Gambia in 1990 — is the main international instrument. It has 54 articles. The Gambia has harmonized the CRC with national legal frameworks.

  • Children’s Act (2005): Domesticated the CRC into national law. Defines a child as anyone under 18. Guarantees rights to education, health, protection from abuse, and participation. Amended in 2016 to prohibit child marriage.
  • Women’s Act (2010): Reinforces protections for girls and women. A 2015 amendment includes provisions against harmful traditional practices like FGM/C.
  • Sexual Offences Act (2013): Provides legal protection against sexual and gender-based violence (abuse, exploitation, harassment).
  • Persons with Disabilities Act (2021): Protects children with disabilities, ensuring inclusive education, accessible facilities, and protection from stigma and exploitation.

These laws make the CRC a binding commitment in The Gambia. Schools, families, and communities are expected to uphold these rights, and children are encouraged to speak up if rights are violated. This lesson helps you understand rights and responsibilities, why they matter, and how to exercise them safely at home, school, and in the community.

Understanding Child Rights

Every child in the world has the right to grow up healthy and safe, to develop in the best way possible, to be listened to and to be taken seriously. Countries around the world agreed to this in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989. The CRC is an international human rights treaty. It consists of 54 articles that provide for children’s rights. These can be divided into rights of protection, promotion and participation. Children’s rights apply to all children and young people from 0 to 18 years of age.

Core principles of child rights

  1. Non-discrimination: Every child must be treated equally, regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, religion, or background. No child should be left out or treated unfairly.
  2. Best interests of the child: All decisions affecting a child must prioritize what is safest, healthiest, and most beneficial for the child’s development and wellbeing.
  3. Right to life, survival, and development: Every child has the right to live and grow in a safe environment with access to health care, education, and opportunities to reach their full potential.
  4. Respect for the views of the child: Children have the right to express their opinions and be listened to in matters that affect them. Their views should be taken seriously according to their age and maturity.

Four pillars of child rights

  • Right to Survival: Every child has the right to life, health, nutrition, and shelter necessary for survival and growth.
  • Right to Development: Every child has the right to education, play, leisure, and access to information and cultural activities that support their full potential.
  • Right to Protection: Children must be protected from all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and harmful traditional practices.
  • Right to Participation: Children have the right to express their opinions freely and to have those opinions respected in all matters that affect them.

What to do when rights are violated

If you feel unsafe, mistreated, or witness unfair treatment, help is available:

  • Speak to a trusted adult (teacher, school counsellor, parent, or mothers’ club member).
  • Report to school authorities or the local child protection committee.
  • Call a national child protection helpline for confidential support and guidance.

199 – National GBV and Child Helpline Gambia: Available 24/7, managed by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare. Provides support for abuse, violence, or exploitation. Calls are free and confidential.

1313 – GBV Helpline: Operated by the Paradise Initiative. Offers help for survivors of gender-based violence and harmful practices, and connects them to social workers.

Activities

Activity 1: Story – “Mariama and the School Garden”

Mariama, 14, at Kuntaur Upper Basic, was told gardening was “for boys only.” With support from her teacher and the mothers’ club, the club agreed everyone should participate.

  • What rights did Mariama use?
  • What responsibilities did her classmates have?
  • How did the teacher support fairness?

Activity 2: Rights and Responsibilities Matching Game

Match cards of rights (for example, the right to education) with responsibilities (for example, attending school). Each group explains why the two belong together.

How does every right depend on someone else fulfilling their responsibility?

Activity 3: Role Play – “Respecting Rights in the Classroom”

Small groups act out scenes showing respect or violation of rights (for example, bullying, turn-taking, allowing others to speak).

What actions supported rights? What can we do to build a respectful classroom?

Activity 4: My Rights Circle

Draw a circle labelled “ME” and list your rights around it. In pairs, link each right to a matching responsibility. Respect protects everyone’s rights.

Key Ideas

Child Rights:Child rights are human rights of children — for every child, regardless of their age, race, gender, or birthplace. These rights are enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international law that recognizes all children must be treated fairly, equally and with dignity. These rights are domesticated in the Children’s Act 2005 of The Gambia.
Responsibilities:Children’s responsibilities include respecting others, taking care of themselves and their families, contributing to their communities, taking their education seriously, and upholding their own rights by respecting the rights of others.
Respect and Fairness:Every child has the right to be treated with dignity without discrimination, and decisions affecting them must be made with their best interests as the primary consideration.
Protection:Freedom from abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Every child has the right to be protected from doing work that is dangerous or bad for their education, health or development.
Participation:Every child has the right to express their views and opinions and have them seriously considered in all matters affecting them.
Government Responsibility:Governments are obligated to protect, promote, and fulfill children’s rights. This includes creating laws, providing services (like education and health care), enforcing child protection measures, and ensuring that children’s voices are heard in decision-making processes.

Key Messages

  • Every child has rights.
  • Respecting others’ rights ensures fairness for all.
  • Speaking up respectfully builds safer schools.

Assessment and Reflection

AreaTool / MethodExamples / Indicators
KnowledgeOral quiz / worksheetDefine child rights; name one law protecting children; identify one responsibility linked to a right.
AttitudesReflection journal / group sharingShows respect for peers’ rights; expresses fairness in group work.
Skills / BehaviourRole-play / observationDemonstrates respectful behaviour in classroom scenarios; participates in a rights-promotion activity.
Follow-upOne-week reviewThe teacher notes examples of students practising fairness and inclusion in daily school life.

Finished this lesson? Mark it complete, then try the practice questions.

Practice questionsNext module