Theobald Mporanyi, the chairman of parliamentary commission in-charge of fighting HIV/AIDS has started a campaign to equip all schools with condoms including primary schools.
“As far as we’re targeting those in high school the awareness should also be spread to those in primary level since there are some who have reached their puberty stage and might be tempted to engage in unsafe sex,” the MP insisted.
He adds that, despite the fact that some are against his idea, the awareness should be harnessed in religious institutions and households.
In this campaign he’s not alone, a few NGO’s in charge of teaching the youth sexual and reproductive education are supportive, and they include Health Development Initiative-Rwanda (HDI), Amir Ihorere Munyarwanda and Rwanda’s NGO’s Forum on AIDS.
Christine Calouro from HDI noted that the teachings will focus more on abstinence, how to avoid unwanted pregnancies as well as Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STD’s).
“All these impediments can be avoided by the use of condoms and there’s no shame in encouraging the youth to take the precautions, and since most of them start having sex at a younger age, it’s a high time we stand as a community to emphasize the use of condoms”.
Mporanyi was also quick to point out that, children ought to be taught the importance of a condom at a younger age, even those who have not reached their puberty since it will improve their understanding on unsafe sex.
“Primary teachers who mostly are objective to the idea should include the use of condoms in their curriculum, like all my kids, some in primary school are aware of it and sometimes I give them the packets of condom to educate their peers,” he pointed out.
The team intends to meet with various leaders and policy makers, especially in the education sector to find relevant mechanisms to implement their agenda.
This follows the high rate of secondary students and a few in primary pupils contracting HIV while some drop out of school due to unwanted pregnancies.
“Statistics of 2005 show that only 13% of young women and 10% of young men aged 15-19 reported condom use, but now the figures have worsen due to inaccessibility of condoms.
Leave a Reply