Ministry to check homosexuality in Schools

The Ministry of Education is optimistic homosexuality in the country¹s Junior High and Senior High Schools will soon be a thing of the past.

Ahead of World AIDS day which falls on December 1, Paul Krampah, the Ministry¹s Public Relations Officer, in an interview with Xfm 95.1 stated that the Ministry¹s HIV/AIDS Secretariat has trained teachers who in turn act as facilitators to educate students on the menace of homosexuality and its adverse consequences including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

According to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVSSU) of the Ghana Police Service more teenage boys in the country¹s Junior High Schools are becoming victims of sexual abuse.

Many of these young boys and their families, report says, are reluctant to report such cases to the police, and according to the unit, this has serious implications for the health of these boys.

As a means to check the spread of HIV/AIDS in children, there have been calls on governments to make Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) compulsory within the national curriculum.

According to campaigners, putting SRE at the heart of the curriculum, rather than as just an optional add-on, would help ensure young people are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to protect themselves (and others) from HIV, while making them aware of the realities of living with HIV today. Paul Krampah said it was in this regard the HIV/AIDS secretariat was established, saying, ³if you want somebody to be well vested in an issue, there is the need to train facilitators; the teachers have been trained and they are facilitating the training of students².

³The schools on regular basis educate the students on the menace of homosexuality. The schools have intensified their training programs. We are very optimistic that in time things will change and the incidence of homosexuality in the country¹s schools will be a thing of the past².

Statistics show that HIV and AIDS have affected young gay men more than any other group of people. In the UK and USA especially, the percentage of young gay men who have been infected with HIV and the percentage with AIDS is much higher than other groups such as heterosexual people or children.

There are also other parts of the world where men who have sex with men, many of whom do not identify themselves as gay, are affected by HIV. Despite the continuing impact of HIV & AIDS there are signs that awareness is waning among young people. After 30 years of the global fight against HIV/AIDS, this year the global community has committed to focusing on achieving 3 targets: "Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths", hence, the team for this year¹s celebration: 'Getting to Zero'.