By Nagra Plunkett, Staff Reporter
Dr. Mona Webber of the Life Sciences Department at the University of the West Indies gives her presentation at the 'Kingston Harbour Public Awareness Campaign' at the Jamaica Conference Centre on Thursday November 11. Dr. Webber said that the faecal coliform bacteria count in the Harbour was 140 times above the World Health organisation's (WHO) standard for contact with the human skin. - CONTRIBUTED
WESTERN BUREAU:
SECONDARY SCHOOL students in Montego Bay are calling on education authorities to institute a structured sex education programme in their curriculum.
"I think we need to incorporate the issue of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) into the curriculum at schools because adolescents need to get this information," said Keneil Grey, a sixth former at Cornwall College.
The student admitted that there was a need to have teenagers educated on the topic of sexuality and the responsibility that comes with it, but pointed out that there were parents, who he referred to as "stumbling blocks", who would not gravitate towards the idea of having their children educated about sex in schools.
The call came during a Gleaner Editors' Youth Forum in Montego Bay on Monday, discussing the issue of STIs, HIV/AIDS and teenagers. The forum was held ahead of a conference on HIV/AIDS for young people to be held on November 26, 2004. The conference is being sponsored by The Gleaner, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry of Health's HIV/AIDS prevention programme.
Dovalee Pryce of Mount Alvernia High School believes that the message on STIs and HIV/AIDS is not as powerful or persuasive as it should be.
INFORMATION IS PRETTIED UP
She said: "The information is being prettied up; just give it to them as it is. Yes you know that you can have gonorrhoea and AIDS but we don't know exactly what it does to your body," she contended. There should be pictures. I remember going to a doctor and I saw this chart of the sexual organs infected with STIs and I was stunned!"
However Patrick Smith, senior secretary of member services at the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), believes that there is not a lack of sex education but that there could be a problem with the mode of delivery and how comfortable the 'deliverers' are with the subject matter.
He also suggested that presenters engage the use of audiovisuals along with printed material in sex education programmes.
"Currently, the new primary syllabus under the National Assessment Programme has a broad spectrum on family life education and deals with gender sensitisation and relationships with family members including taboo topics such as incest and rape," Mr. Smith said.
"One would be surprised at the sexual awareness of a grade one student, who is six or seven years old."
