Editorial
Changing the narrative of sex through sex education
Let’s make sex education compulsory
Dear Editor,
In Ghanaian society, issues relating to sex are not often talked about in our homes: Just, the mention of sex then you will see mama looking sternly at you. In some societies the mention of it is a taboo, but the question is if these issues are not addressed by our own parents, then who should we run to, to make informed decisions on sexual matters. Is it when the girl-child is being influenced by peers to practise it as a form of satisfying her curiosity? Or when the boy-child under the influence of friends practises it to show how manly he is?
This is a million-dollar question begging for an answer. According to research, comprehensive sex education, (which emphasises the benefits of abstinence while also teaching about contraceptives and disease-prevention methods) has been proven to reduce teen pregnancy and STD infection. Thus, sex education explores values and beliefs about those topics and helps people gain the skills that are needed to navigate relationships with self, partners, community and manage one’s own sexual health and to create awareness of its consequences of unwanted pregnancy, early parenting and others if not done safely.
Sex education highlights hygiene issues. It becomes more important for young people to keep their bodies clean at puberty. Comprehensive sexual education provides essential information about how people can maintain their hygiene. Since not all parents can instruct their children on these methods and may be embarrassing to talk about these issues with children. Sex education helps young people to understand what is normal. Adolescents do face a hard time when hitting puberty. They often take certain things as abnormal. Sex education helps them to understand that their body is changing physically.
In an interview with Mrs Helena Dickson, a Counsellor and Midwife with Pentecost Hospital at Tarkwa in the Western Region, she states that “not only does sex education have to be introduced at the early stage in adolescent life but its abstinence, too. She explained further that, at that stage they were so eager to engage in boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with the aim of knowing and feeling what sex entailed and this occurred because of the hormonal change in adolescents. Adolescents need to be educated about the consequences of sex so they don’t become pregnant”.
She added that this education would alert the young girls to be extra careful in their lives and slow down the eagerness to feel for sex. The education will let them know that these feelings they sometimes experience are normal but it behoves on them to control themselves not to fall into temptation.
She concluded that diversional therapy like playing football, ampe, ludo, oware and others could be introduced when they felt for sex.
In conclusion, sex education is an important aspect in every adolescent life, so parents should be open for discussion when issues about sex are introduced by their wards. It should be made a subject in the secondary school just as physical education.
Alice Mensah
Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ)
Dear Editor,
AS schools reopen after the holiday, pressure will start to mount on both parents, guardians and teachers.
As a parent, I wish to use this platform to appeal to the basic school authorities through the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reduce the prices of food served our children.
It is very clear and obvious to all that prices of foodstuff have reduced drastically and that was the reason people felt the last Christmas was the best in recent years.
From tomatoes, onions and other vegetables needed to make good meals for the children have seen a reduction in prices.
It will therefore be unfortunate if the school authorities are not humane enough to reduce the school feeding charges. That would amount to wickedness.
This is something the authorities must see to. It will no doubt ease the huge burden on the parents.
Parents were reasonable enough with two different increments when prices shot up. Now that prices seem to have dropped, the schools should do the needful.
That would create some goodwill between the teachers and the parents.
Rose Aboagyewaa, Kasoa
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Dear Editor,
I write to wish you and your staff a Happy New Year and commend you for the good work you have done over the years.
It is my prayer that the good Lord bless you and make available the resources you need to do a better work in the New Year.
I wish to bring your attention to the return of traders to the pavements at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle area.
In the previous decongestion exercise before the holidays, I noticed the authorities intentionally allowed them some freedom to sell at certain areas with lines drawn to demarcate an area for them to do their business.
A visit to the area in the first week of the year revealed that these traders have gone beyond those demarcations and are selling on the spaces left for pedestrians.
The pedestrians are therefore left with narrow pathways to navigate, creating unnecessary congestion in the area and making it difficult for people to move around freely.
I wish to use this platform to inform the authorities about the development. They should send their officers to the market areas to check this for themselves and make sure they move back to the areas designated for them.
Mike Niiaste, Kaneshie
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