10 Oct 2018

Education and communication have been identified as key in matters of sexuality among adolescents and young people.

Principal education officer from the Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation, Ms Jane Gaongalelwe told a one-day Parent-Child Dialogue workshop in Molepolole on Tuesday that sexuality matters have been a challenge resulting in young people experiencing social ills due to ignorance as well as lack of guidance and support from parents.

The aims of the workshop, Ms Gaongalelwe said, was to bring together critical stakeholders on matters pertaining to sexuality education as well as to facilitate a parent-child dialogue to influence communication between parents and their children.

She further highlighted that the challenges were also aggravated by a number of factors such as the Setswana culture and norms coupled with the fact that issues such as sexuality were considered sensitive.

She emphasised the need for parents and young people as well as teachers to openly talk about sexuality in a clear, conscience manner.

Ms Pilaeng Moje, a member of the technical working group on Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE), explained that CSE involved a holistic approach to teaching and learning on issues relating to human development and sexuality.

She said comprehensive sexual education was important because of the impact of cultural values and religious beliefs on individuals, especially young people in their understanding of issues.

Ms Moje further explained that it was important to engage adolescents as they formed a significant feature of the country’s youthful population.

The fact that their needs have been neglected for a long time, she said, has negatively affected the country’s development potential.

For his part, Kweneng regional education director, Mr Benson Rauwe appreciated the workshop, stressing that it was critical to build relationships involving learners and out of school youth to give teachers a deeper understanding of their learners.

Meanwhile, statistics compiled by the District Health Management Team (DHMT) has revealed that there are many recorded cases of teenage pregnancies as well as sexually transmitted infections including HIV among adolescents and teenagers in the district.  ENDS