By Sulaiman. Sesay
With funding from the Aids Healthcare Foundation, the National Commission for Children (NCC) has on Tuesday 25th October 2022, commemorates post-International Day of the Girl Child. The theme for this year’s commemoration is “Girls! Our time is now -our rights, our future.” The commemoration also saw the Launching of a campaign titled “protect the child campaign.”The commemoration and the official launch of the Campaign took place at the Sierra Lighthouse Hotel at Aberdeen in Freetown. In the hall where the celebration took place were school pupils from across various schools in Freetown. The commemoration ceremony was chaired by two school pupils, while other pupils were given the opportunity to throw questions at experts who occupied the high table and answers were provided. Among other things that were being discussed at the commemoration was comprehensive sexuality education. Commissioner, National Commission for Children (NCC), Joyce Weah Tejan Kellah, disclosed that the campaign which was launched will be implemented by collaborating with other institutions in order to achieve the targeted goal of the campaign. She mentioned that, among other tools, the Commission with its partners will embark on community engagement, teacher pupil’s relationship. She disclosed that plans are underway to develop a new school curriculum which will include sexuality education. She added that plans are also underway to train teachers who will be teaching about sexuality education in various schools. She admonished the girls who were present to place value in themselves. “Despite the challenges which girls are faced with across the world, there are opportunities which they must tap on,” she went on. Prevention Program Coordinator, Aids Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Esther Teh, revealed that under the ‘protect the child campaign’ sexuality education will be taught in schools. “We want girls and women to become aware of their health and take care of it,” she told the girls. She stressed the need for sexuality education which she mentioned will help prevent unwanted pregnancies, early pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, etc. “We want to work with Government of Sierra Leone to ensure that sexuality education is taught in schools and we shall also develop the tools to ensure that the message reaches the children,” she added. She also spoke of the need to strengthen parent teacher relationship, and the use of multimedia as an approach to reach out to girls. Director General, National HIV and Aids Secretariat, Abdul Rahman Sesay, urged the children and all present to be grateful for the leadership which the Government of Sierra Leone has demonstrated in terms of protecting the girl child. He continued that the country has made huge progress on the protection of the girl child. Sesay said he was pleased that sexuality education is now being incorporated into the school curriculum. He stressed the need to target adolescent girls, noting that the prevalent rate of HIV and Aids is mostly high on adolescent in recent times, hence, the need for sexuality education to be taught in schools, to not just prevent HIV and Aids but also sexually transmitted diseases as well as unwanted pregnancies, among others. Reverend Christiana Sutton Koroma, who represented the Inter-religious Council, reminded the girls that this is their time to build their future. She emphasized the need for the dissemination of the right information to the girls in order for them not to be misled. On the other hand, she urged the authorities concerned to provide the necessary services for children who are already involved in active sex to ensure that they do not get unwanted pregnancies. “We have provided you with the knowledge required, so you can have the responsibility to use the information provided wisely,” she admonished the children.A girl child, Josephine E. Sesay told Awoko Newspaper that that was the first session that focused on sexuality education she has witnessed. Sesay said she looks forward to attending more sessions on sexuality education, for she learnt a lot about sexuality education.
