![Government urged to integrate Comprehensive Sexuality Education in curricula](http://ghheadlines.com/images/default.png)
By Elsie Appiah-Osei/ Cecilia Diesob, GNA
Accra, May 31, GNA - Madam Anne Coolen, the Representative of the Country Director of Marie Stopes International Ghana, has encouraged government to integrate Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in the school curricula.
She said: “This year seems particularly well chosen as the revision of school curricula opens the door for this integration already today.
“Marie Stopes International Ghana is here to continue to support any further steps to make this happen,” Madam Coolen said at the launch of the “KnowItOwnItLiveIt” CSE manual for young people in Accra on Tuesday.
She said young people being the largest constituency in the country, it was important that whatever investment made had important impact on their future.
The ten module manual is specifically designed to meet the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) information needs of both facilitators and their young audiences.
“The manual has contents which meet global standards for comprehensive Sexuality Education seeks to foster respect for human rights and diversity, communicate a positive, life cycle approach to sexuality as well as encourage critical thinking skills and young people’s participation in decision-making,” Professor Kofi Awusabo Asare of the Department of Population and Health University of Cape Coast said.
Reviewing the 449 page manual, Prof Awusabo Asare indicated that the manual had been positioned as a living document with the content that would respond to the needs of young people in and out of school.
He said the 58 sessions manual produced with the support from the Marie Stopes International, West Africa Health Organisation, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Ghana Health Service, Ghana Education Service, National Youth Authority, UNFPA and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is structured to suit the educational and informational needs of young people with the disabilities and other such categories of young people.
According to Prof Awusabo Asare, forwarded by Planned Parenthood Ghana Association (PPAG), the “KnowItOwnItLiveIt” manual would serve as a tool of reference document for CSE delivery both in and out of school young people.
The Deputy Minister of Education, Madam Barbara Asher Ayisi, stated that almost half of Ghana’s population was at the peak of fertility and sexual Reproductive Health Education could not be compromised.
She said proportion of adolescents engaging in sexual activities by 15 years of age had risen from 7.3 per cent in 1998 to 11.8 per cent in 2014 while Sexual burden by 18 years had increased from 43.3 per cent to 56.7 per cent.
Madam Ayisi was positive that the launch of the manual was timely and commended the efforts of PPAG for their research product.
She therefore urged the Ghanaian parents to support the rights of young people in order to gain their confidence to confide in them about Reproductive Health issues.
Mr Albert Wuddah-Martey, the Director of Programmes at PPAG, addressing participants said PPAG was committed to improving the SRHR of young people and would continue to work in partnership with all stakeholders to serve them.
He said SRHR education and service delivery to young people in Ghana were at the forefront of PPAG’s work and is pleased to develop a manual on CSE that responded to the SRHR information, knowledge and practical skills needs of young people.
“The opportunity to produce a new CSE manual based on internationally acceptable standards while being context specific has been a long awaited opportunity.
“Access to CSE is a right for every young person. It is an obligation that PPAG continues to prioritise CSE and work together with its partners and stakeholders to advocate for its implementation,” Mr Wuddah-Martey said.
Madam Adjoa Yeni, Programme Analyst of UNFPA, said young people being healthy with appropriate age and culturally sensitive with comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information to avoid teenage pregnancy, as well as being able to access health services when sick and could make assertive decisions to maintain their dignity and human rights in Ghana would empower, such young persons to be in the best position to fulfil their dignity and human rights.
“Such a young person will be in the best position to fulfil his or her potential and contribute to national development,” she said.
Madam Yeni said following various reviews of the country’s current CSE content in curricula, and various consultations, findings indicate that a more comprehensive sexuality education must be taught to ensure that young people fully understood issues around their sexuality to enable them take the appropriate decisions.
She therefore called for the establishment of national guidelines for CSE in the country, adding that “This manual has been developed based on authoritative, current and holistic CSE information to ensure that it is age-appropriate, leaner-centred and fully addresses gender power dynamics and human rights.”
Mr Richard Obeng, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), said a country with a healthy youth population is a productive one and therefore harnessing the potential of the youth for the advancement of economic and the total development of a nation was imperative.
He said guided by this the UNFPA together with the NYA in the efforts to promote youth health with particular emphasis on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ASRHR) in Ghana, had integrated comprehensive sexuality education into the existing curriculum of all the 11 NYA managed Youth Leadership Skills and Training Institutes (YLSTI) across the ten regions of Ghana which is dubbed: “90 Days of Hope.”
Mr Obeng explained the 90 days of Hope as an encompassing duration per term that the young people spend in school where cognitive knowledge, impartation and acquisition were most prevalent.
“During the term, students are educated on Reproductive Health, guided by clearly outlined topics and activities aimed at informing, educating and guiding them towards making informed choices leading to healthy lifestyles as against risky ones,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the NYA said the evaluation of CSE programs elsewhere showed that these programs help young people to delay onset of sexual activity and also encourage condom and contraceptive use.
GNA
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