Kumasi (Ashanti Region), 30 Nov. '98 - Ghanaians have been advised to stop perceiving sex education as a taboo and be bold to approach the issue to help reduce immorality in the society.
Kumasi (Ashanti Region), 30 Nov. '98 - Ghanaians have been advised to stop perceiving sex education as a taboo and be bold to approach the issue to help reduce immorality in the society. Mrs Comfort E. Amoa, resource person of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG), made the call at a day's seminar organised by the Ashanti Region branch of the PPAG for school health co-ordinators from the Kumasi Metropolis. It was aimed at educating the co-ordinators on problems associated with sexual reproductive health and equipping them with techniques to address the problem in their schools. Mrs Amoah observed that the misconception that children should not be educated on their sexuality has become a stumbling block to attempts at reducing immorality in the society. She said until society admits that immoral practices have become common among the youth, it will be difficult to implement programmes directed at checking the menace. ''It is only when parents are frank and enlighten their children on their sexuality that they will have correct information and knowledge about sex and appreciate the need to keep away from it until marriage.'' Mr Anthony Owusu Gyamfi, Project Officer of the PPAG, suggested to the Ghana Education Service to make sex education a separate component of the curriculum of Teacher Training Colleges. Such a move will help properly equip trainee teachers about sex education and thereby put them in a better position to pass on the right information to their pupils. Mrs Delabi Agbenu, School Health Programmes Co-ordinator of the Kumasi Metropolitan Education Office, advised school health teachers not to operate in isolation but liaise with the PPAG and the health education unit to help them properly educate their school pupils on adolescence reproductive health.
