The International Day of the African Child or IDAC in short, is celebrated annually on the 16th of June. In 2025, the IDAC or the International Day of the African Child (2025) is marked under the theme of “Planning and Budgeting for Children’s Rights”.
Across the world, organizations and persons of good will continue to join hands to mark this day through a series of cerebrations that commenced a few days prior to June 16th 2025. These commemorative activities are bound to continue within the next couple of days even after the June 16th climax since stakeholders argue that, “great remembrances are not a one-off event but a lifestyle or a way of life and should be marked continuously”.These were the words of the Principal, Mama Ngina University, Prof Zipporah Ng’ang’a on a telephone interview.
Two institutions higher learning, namely, Mount Kenya University (MKU) and Mama Ngina University College (MNUC) joined hands with the Ministry of Education and the Department of Children welfare Gatundu Subcounty at MNUC, in Gatundu Sub-County, Kiambu County on Friday the 13th June 2025 to mark the International Day of the African Child.
The MKU Founder and Chairman, Prof Simon Gicharu who said, “MKU is in support of SDGs and has been awarded the UNAI SDG 9 Hub Chair on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure”. He said this in his message to the 1,800 boys of Murang’a High School in a high-level event organized by the Alumni including himself that was in solidarity with the International Day of the African Child on Saturday the 14th June 2025.
Sr. Consolata, the Executive Secretary for the Next generation Leaders Programme was the Guest Speaker during the event which lasted the whole day. It was a day that was dominated by presentations and performances by numerous participating learners who passed their messages of solidarity through music and dance, poems, and other kinds of popular performances. Sr. Consolata in her heavily worded message said among other things that, the African Child day and its festivities are not a call for charity but a call for justice to children. She however, reminded the learners that, while the world owes then security and opportunities, they too do owe the world the best of themselves.
The International Day of the African Child, also known as the Day of the African Child (DAC) has been celebrated on June 16th every year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the then Organization of African Unity (OAU) or the African Union as it is called today.
This day honors those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 and also raises awareness of the continuing need to improve the education provided to African children. On June 16, 1976, in Soweto, South Africa, about ten thousand black school children marched in a column more than half a mile long, protesting the poor quality of their education and demanding their right to be taught in their own language.
Tragically, hundreds of them were shot down and more than a hundred people were killed in the off-shoot protests and more than a thousand persons injured. Around June 16th every year, governments, NGOs, international organisations and other stakeholders gather in forums of different types to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the full realization of the rights of children in Africa. Learners also participate in solidarity through different types of performances usually coordinated by schools, churches, and Child Welfare Departments as the case is in Kenya.
Mount Kenya University (MKU) was represented during the Friday 13th June 2025 event at MNUC by Prof. Peter Wanderi, the Principal Corporate Services, Communication and Alumni Relations who is also the Director, Linkages and Partnerships at MKU. Prof. Wanderi also serves as the Overseer of the United Nations Academic Impact SDG 9 Hub Chair at MKU on Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, This is a position that has been competitively awarded to MKU by the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI); a position that MKU shall hold for three years commencing January 2025 to December 2027. Prof Wanderi was accompanied by Dr. Daniel Oloo of MKU’s School of Social Sciences.
UNAI is a globally availed platform for universities to use in their promotion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNAI has competitively awarded to different UNAI member universities, the opportunities to serve within some 17 Hub Chair positions and MKU is one of the Hub Chair Universities. During the event, Prof Wanderi related the activities of the day to the role of Universities, organizations and individuals in the promotion of United nations championed SDGs or Global Goals as well as in support of the Kenya Vision 2030 and African Union Agenda 2030 under the clarion call of “The Africa We Want”. In the same spirit, the MKU Founder and Chairman, Prof Simon Gicharu, joined other Alumni of Murang’a High School on Saturday the 14th June 2025 as a Distinguished keynote speaker during a high-level motivational talk to the students.
Prof Gicharu in his very inspiring talk to the students as an alumnus, also mentioned about MKU’s sterling support to the SDGs global agenda. A message later on shared with the media by the Principal Corporate Services, Prof Peter Wanderi who accompanied the MKU Founder to the event, indicated that, the Murang’a High school event came as a direct support to the African Child and in tandem with the vision and spirit of the International Day of the African Child. “As the MKU Founder, and all the alumni present, the teachers and other stakeholders gave their motivational talks to the students, and the assistance they accorded to the students in various ways, all those were vital hallmarks of solidarity with the entire world in marking the International Day of the African Child and the SDGs agenda”, Prof Wanderi said in his message to the media. Dr John Njoroge Kimani, the Lead Scientist and Chief Scientific Advisor, Ministry of Defence, Kenya, who studied at Murang’a High School in the 1970s was also a distinguished keynote speaker during the event.
