Mrs Elizabeth Amoah-Tetteh, Deputy Minister of
Education on Friday, called on all stakeholders in the socialisation of the child to show commitment in the development of healthy and responsible adolescent reproductive health management.
She said the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and their attendant negative consequences
on the education sector, affected national development hence establishment of the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) in 1992, under the Ghana Education Service (GES).
Mrs Amoah-Tetteh made the call at a seminar to disseminate a research report on the evaluation of HIV Alert School Model (ASM) in Accra.
The ASM was developed to harmonise AIDS interventions in basic schools to achieve and sustain positive behaviour development and change to reduce the spread of HIV.
She stated that society could not overemphasize the challenges that adolescents faced as they grew up therefore; it was important to prepare and help them to make correct decisions in the present and future.
"They must learn about their sexuality and to deal with physical and emotional changes, and to make decisions about reproduction and parenthood," she added.
Mrs Ellen B. Mensah, Director of SHEP said the HIV Alert School Model was a joint initiative between the United Nations Children's' Fund (UNICEF) and the GES and was formally launched in February 2006.
She said more education on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and AIDS prevention and risky behaviors would reduce the likelihood of the youth to be infected with the disease, adding "protective behavior and behavior
change is the answer".
The ASM, Mrs Mensah said had now been integrated into the window of hope curriculum in the teacher training colleges.
HIV alert branding materials and media campaigns have been developed and would be in operation as part of preliminary activities for awards to identify HIV alert schools, in addition to training to begin the Senior High School HIV Alert Model Programme.
However, Mrs Mensah said the programme faced some challenges including lack of time and materials for effective implementation of the Peer Educators Sessions.
Mr Kyeremeh Atuahene, Acting Director of Research Monitoring and Evaluation at Ghana AIDS commission, encouraged stakeholders in SHEP and the GES to consider recommendations of the report and work to overcome the challenges outlined.
The research which was funded by UNICEF was conducted by the National Centre for Research into Basic Education (NCRIBE) of the University Of Education, Winneba, to evaluate the extent to which the ASM had impacted on the children in schools being implemented.
Some of the findings of the research include; very high degree of knowledge of HIV and AIDS among the pupils except in the category of signs and symptoms of the disease, where they are not sure.
It was also found that ASM had positively influenced children's attitude towards condom use, and attitudes to people living with HIV and
AIDS also improved from inception of the programme but somewhat reduced as they progressed in the stages of the model.
The report recommended that there should be regular in-service training for teachers as the teacher-based pillar of the programme was most
effective, the programme should be intensified for older children in the alert stage and that the GES should integrate it into the normal timetable of basic schools and make adequate provision for monitors.