Peer educators discuss Comprehensive Sexuality Education manual |02 December 2021
A partial view of delegates
A group of peer educators in schools, work places, non-governmental organisations and in the communityyesterday met at the Savoy Resort & Spa, through a validation workshop, to discuss more on the Comprehensive Sexuality Educationmanual to be used for the process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality to young people.
The Comprehensive Sexuality Education(CSE) is a project of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for out -of-school young people in East and Southern Africa but it has recommended, through our request, that it be reviewed and be adapted in the Seychelles context.
So the aim of the validation workshop, organised by theNational Aids Council (NAC), was to get additional views and proposals before the manual is handed over to the UNFPA for final approval. The team of counselors has up to December 31 to work on the manual before handed it over. Theyhad previously been working for three consecutive days on the manual, from November 22, 2021 to start getting it into the Seychelles context.
The validation workshop was opened by Shana David from the Association of People with Hearing Impairment. She said the workshop was important for the participants as they will have enough baggage to help young people to develop their personalities to become good role models in society. She thanked the organisers for including people with hearing impairment to share their views on the manual designated for Seychellois children and youths. The validation workshop was part of activities to commemorate World Aids Day yesterday.
The CSE manual is to equip children and young people with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will empower them to realise their health, well-being and dignity, develop respectful social and sexual relationships, consider how their choices affect their own well-being and that of others and to understand and ensure the protection and fulfillment of their rights throughout their lives.
It also is about teaching young people to be safe and to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). This can be avoided by choosing to abstain from sex for moral, religious, ethical or health reasons or by using a condom consistently and correctly if they choose to have sex.The manual is also about teaching young people on their rights and responsibilities and to believe in gender equality for better sexual health outcomes. It also provides accurate knowledge about human sexuality, human rights and gender including how to protect their sexual and reproductive health and how to reduce gender-based violence.
The UNFPA programme coordinator for Seychelles Patricia Baquero said the manual is not about teaching sex to young people but to teach them things of importance related to their sexuality such as gender, their development, relationship, sexual health, teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence among others, so that they get to grow up well and stay active in society.
She added that all African countries in the Eastern and Southern part of the African continent have validated the manual and Seychelles is the lastone working to validate the 461-page document.
On elaborating more on the manual, consultant Benjamin Vel said as UNFPA had designed it for out-of-school children and youth living in the eastern and southern parts of the continent, Seychelles has in its context, includein-school children and youth and children and youth living with disabilities as some young people, especially the 18 to 20-year-oldd here, are in post secondary schools. He noted that the two included parties also get involved and also affected when it comes to cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality.
Mr Vel said with the many sexual problems being encountered by the young people with regards to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/Aids and the alarming rate in teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence among youths in relationships, there is the necessity to educate our young people on sexuality and relationship. He added that the NAC will introduce the manual as a working tool to the Ministry of Education and other organisations related to young people in the country.
Farella Charlie, a youth counselor at the Seychelles National Youth Council (SMYC) said the manual will help address confusing issues, especially social and emotional which are common among youths coming to seek help at the council, as they(youths) from schools and post-secondary institutions would have already gathered some information from their peer counselors who would be well-versed from the manual. She added that it will therefore eliminate some of the work at the hands of the counselors at the council and more added time to assist the mostly affected.
Other than for use for teaching and learning by the counselors, the manual is expected to be made available for young people in secondary and post-secondary schools and alsoin the communities.
