Member, Government Girls Secondary School, Harbour Road, Port Harcourt Old Girls Association, 1983 set and also a Principal Nursing Officer, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Adiki Ndamioku has commended the Rivers State Government for including sex education in the state’s education curriculum.
Ndamioku made the commendation at a seminar on Adolescent Sexuality jointly organized by the Vision of Effective Education Advocacy Group, non-governmental organization (NGO) and Community Secondary School, Kalio-Ama, Okirika, recently.
Ndamioku who noted the importance of adolescent sexuality said it must be tackled to bring about reduction in the rate of teenage pregnancies and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), maintaining that the primary and secondary institutions remained the sure starting point for the awareness.
“Before now, sex education is something we cannot talk about but now we can, because it is in the education curriculum and we give the thanks to the state government for this laudable step to safeguard the sexual health of our teenage children”, she said.
Ndamioku noted, however, that the government and schools cannot do it alone and stressed the need for parents to partner in educating their children on sex and its dangers.
While urging the students to shun premarital set which she said may lead to unwanted pregnancies and other negative consequences, she stressed the need for the girls in particular to be more careful as they bear the burden most saying,in the olden days “both the boy and girl found in such act were expelled but now it is only the girl that is purnished and the boy walks around freely’.
While explaining that premarital sex was aided by peer group influence, poverty, parents carelessness among others, Ndamioku advised the students against it in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies and other consequences.
Lady Godknows Ogbuh