Educationist says youth lost touch with tradition

Koforidua, Nov 14, GNA - Mrs Ewurabena Ahwoi, the Eastern Regional Director of Education, has said the youth had lost touch with tradition and that there was the need for society to reverse the trend. "The issue of students not greeting elderly persons, which is the easiest etiquette in the Ghanaian society, speaks volumes about the kind of people who are far away from their tradition", she said.

Mrs Ahwoi was speaking at the opening of a debate for some second-cycle schools in the Eastern Region on Saturday as part of preparatory activities to mark the World AIDS Day that falls on December 1.

She said some habits such as drinking, attending night clubs and indecent dressing even amongst students, were all signals that the youth were in real danger and needed to be checked because "it can lead to the contraction of the dreaded HIV/AIDS."

She told the students that having in-depth knowledge about the disease was not enough, but the impact of the knowledge they had about the modes of transmission and prevention of the disease could have on their behavioural patterns was what mattered.

The participating schools in the debate with the motion "the HIV virus is spread more by females than males" included the Aburi Girls, Pope John, Ofori Panin, Okuapeman, Ghana Secondary, Oda Secondary and Akwamuman secondary schools.

The Eastern Region Focal Person on HIV/AIDS, Ms Golda Asante, said the objective of the debate was to create a forum for advocacy and behavioural change in students with emphasis on the disease. 14 Nov 04