First Lady, Sandra Granger has emphasised the need for Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) to be taught as a subject in schools throughout the country.
Speaking at the recent Information Communication Technology (ICT) graduation for adolescents and out-of-school youths in Linden, the Frist Lady spoke about social health issues affecting the youths and stressed on the importance of sexual health education in schools.
The First Lady also stated her belief that HFLE helps students to understand who they are and how they can protect themselves.
“One of the things that I wanted to point out, was my continuing concern…the lack of across the board Health and Family Life Education in our schools. And I know there are many teachers who refuse to teach it because they believe you are teaching the children about sex and we are going to have these orgies throughout the school. We are teaching children to protect themselves, and I’m telling you that this is not a problem that we have only in Guyana. I was at the conference last year when I heard about young men using icicle bags as condoms…that is dangerous,” she stated.
She also recalled working at Caricom Secretariat years ago and being involved in the Caricom Health and Family Life Education project. The ICT training, which was organised through her office, also saw the participants being taught ‘Soft Skills’ and included sexual and reproductive health.
The topic is said to have received a positive response and during the graduation ceremony, participants showed much appreciation for the sexual reproductive health lecturer, Grace Andrews.
Mrs Granger made calls for this to be introduced into the school system, noting that caution should be taken to make modules age appropriate for every level to promote proper decision making and good practices amongst students.
“And I’m saying, ‘why are we still quarrelling about this and why do people still feel that HFLE should not be taught in schools?’ But when you see the dangers, when you know that there is a uptake in AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) among the young population in the Caribbean and that we have the second highest rate of infections after sub-Saharan Africa in the world- think about it, HFLE (not only) helps our young people to understand who they are but how they can protect themselves and lead full lives,” she explained.
The First Lady urged the youths to try to understand how their bodies work and how they can make it work for them in order to make better decisions. The aim, she noted, is to make knowledge widely available to reduce experimental incidence. Granger indicated that she would also like to see a considerate and tolerant group of young people.
