Don’t skip sex education in schools – Deputy Education Minister

A Deputy Minister of Education in charge of technical and vocational education, Barbara Asher Ayisi has cautioned teachers against skipping subjects on sex and menstruation in the educational curricula.

She insisted that “Comprehensive sexuality education is compulsory in the syllabus but some teachers fail to teach it leaving students to seek information on the subjects from the internet and wrong sources”.

“Most parents nowadays are not available to discuss these topics with the children so teachers must hold the ford. Go in-depth, use practical language and materials to teach these topics to the understanding of students to prevent them from being misinformed,” she advised.

Mrs. Ayisi was speaking at a forum on menstrual hygiene in Accra yesterday aimed at breaking the myths and misconceptions surrounding menstruation which is a natural occurrence among girls and women.

It was to climax series of campaign by GHONE Television in collaboration with FAY International, producers of Faytex Sanitary Pad on menstruation, under the theme, ‘Period not shame’.

A documentary aired at the event revealed that girls in areas including Kpatinga in the Upper West Region and Kyekyewere in the Central Region had to resort to the use of rags while others were barred from crossing a river to school during their menstrual periods.

Women in other areas were also prevented from going to their farms, cooking for their husbands or engaging in economic activities as a result of their menstruation.

The minister who was disheartened over how some girls in the documentary had no idea about menstruation until their first experience or ever seen a sanitary towel in their lives asked “teachers to step up their game in this area”.

She assured of government’s commitment to support initiatives that would help promote menstrual hygiene to keep girls in school in order to achieve their full potential.

A senior gynaecologist with the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Dr. Appiah Kubi entreated parents to broaden their knowledge on menstruation to be in a better position to educate the girl-child on the topic.

He advised against the use of sub-standard materials such as cloths, toilet rolls and unapproved sanitary towels among others often used to contain the flow of blood warning that “these materials could cause infections in your system”.

The Head of Medical Devices of the Foods and Drugs Authority (FDA), Mr. Joseph Benney on his part said the Authority would soon publish the names of registered and approved sanitary towels in the country.

He asked consumers to look out for the expiry dates of the products urging distributors not to focus only on Accra to sell the products but reach out to deprived areas to enable them have access to quality sanitary towels for use.