Talk to kids about sex

The education director for the Ohangwena Region, Isak Hamatwi, has urged parents to discuss sex and related issues with their children so as to inform them of the facts.

This, he says, will prevent children from dropping out of school due to teenage pregnancies.

He added that the major cause of learner pregnancies included non-consensual sex with older men, including teachers.

Hamatwi was speaking during a parent and youth dialogue at Eenhana on Friday. He said that despite the educational policy on the prevention and management of learner pregnancy, they continue to experience a high rate of school pregnancies in the region. Most of these girls drop out.

Close to 200 learners and out-of-school youth from the region came face-to-face with parents from different communities to discuss issues between parents and children.

The event was organised by Star for Life with financial support from Unesco under the theme, 'Don't raise your voice, raise your argument'. It was well attended, also by education stakeholders.

“Creating platforms such as this, leaders, parents and youth are charged to exercise great care when they communicate, because dialogues like this serve as two-way vehicles to convey expectations and responsibilities to and from both groups. Let us make sure that we listen tentatively to the arguments being raised. If we only hear the voice without understanding the argument, we will take nothing from it,” Hamatwi said.

“From an educational perspective, learners are confronted with multi-dimensional risks, one of which is the risk of dropping out of school before they complete. This risk is compounded by shaky parental care and the scourge of teenage or learner pregnancies.”

Hamatwi said that the government has put measures in place to discourage learners, especially girls and learners from marginalised communities, from dropping out of school. However, the drop-out rate across all the phases, remains high.

“This is a sure indication that no policies can prevent or manage the multi-dimensional issues with many risks and contributing factors that require an integrated approach such as this, to deal with them,” he said.

He also criticised that apart from the policy and the code of conduct for teachers which prohibits romantic relationships between teachers and learners and punishes culprits in this regard, there are no other punitive measures meted against those who impregnate learners. He said as such, power imbalances remain at play and in many cases lead to non-consensual sex which remains a major source of learner pregnancies.

The senior programme officer for the regional directorate of health, Festus Kuushomwa, encouraged both parents and children to consider discussing issues related to sex and sexuality more frequently.

The youth and parents entered into dialogue which many say was useful because they learned many things their parents fail to discuss with them. Many said they did not have an opportunity to discuss sex with their parents saying, their elders only turned aggressive when they see them with male counterparts.

Star for Life country manager Susan Linosi said that they were trying to empower the youth to realise their dreams as responsible members of society. She said they travel to schools to encourage and motivate learners to achieve their dreams and become whoever they would like to be.

“We give them all the possible support to make sure that they continue to attend school to realise their dreams,” Linosi said.

She added that the parent youth dialogue is an annual event that started in 2014 at Rehoboth, where parents and youth are brought together to discuss issues affecting them.

ILENI NANDJATO