By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterAMIDST GROWING HIV infection and earlier sexual initiation among young people, some health officials are concerned by a Ministry of Education decision to allow schools to determine whether they teach subjects such as health and family life education.
They are concerned that sexually active and other students are not being adequately reached and advised in schools, which have the choice of removing from their timetables a subject which can be used to teach children life skills, safer sex practices and empowerment.
At yesterday's Editors' Forum, at The Gleaner Company's North Street offices, Dr. Deloris Brissett, head of the Education Ministry's Guidance and Counselling Unit, admitted the Ministry was powerless to prevent schools from pushing aside Family Life and Health Education, despite the Ministry's having developed and distributed a curriculum, which includes a component on raising HIV awareness in schools.
The decision to implement the programme rests at the school level, especially with principals, and often comes in a poor second to subjects such as mathematics and English language on the timetable, she said.
"...When there is a crush for time the softer subjects tend to be squeezed and not given the prominence they should receive. By the time it comes to the level of the school, you have to make some choices and many prefer that our children have language and math," she said.
But, Lovette Byfield, Behaviour Change Com-munication programme's specialist in the Ministry of Health, disagreed.
"I don't get a sense of urgency coming out of the Ministry to point to the fact that HIV/AIDS is a central issue to development and to the population in general," she said after the Forum.
She said family life should be mandatory and not regarded as a "soft subject" and that if the Ministry of Education takes a lead position on HIV/AIDS education and public awareness, most of society will follow, including schools.
CONCERN
Dr. Peter Figueroa, the Health Ministry's Chief, Epidemiology and AIDS, also expressed concern, stating the subject was important because "we need to ensure that we empower our children with an understanding of sexual skills and their ability to relate in a positive manner to one another, and that they are properly prepared as they move into their adolescent years and adulthood."
He also said schools and society "need to come to grips" with how to deal with sexually active children and the school system "has to grapple with" how to help sexually active children concretely educate themselves.
There must be a sector-wide approach to the epidemic and the preparation of teachers in teachers' colleges and tertiary institutions, he said.
Attending the forum were education policy makers, health officials and HIV/AIDS workers.
