SEXUALITY EDUCATION AND PREVENTION OF HIV/AIDS DISEASE: THE ROLES OF PARENTS, GUARDIANS, TEACHJERS AND COUNSELLOR

SEXUALITY EDUCATION AND PREVENTION OF HIV/AIDS DISEASE: THE ROLES OF PARENTS, GUARDIANS, TEACHJERS AND COUNSELLOR

The subject matter of sex education and sexually transmissible disease should be imparted to the child early in life well before the child enters into primary school. Most children come to know about sex on their own as early as the age of five years and so provision should be made as early as possible to educate the child sequential on sexuality. It is therefore the responsibility of the parent to inculcate good habits in their children and assist them to develop positive attitudes towards sex and highlight its associated problems. In our country, most parents are conservative in their outlook to sexual issues. Sequel to this Scio-cultural dilemma, our youths do not feel equally safe to discuss their sexuality with their parents. This is because of our imbibed social values and negative attitude to sex, which leaves the child in suspense as to what sex is all at out. Most often, children and adolescents find themselves forced into their first sexual experience with little or no information about the consequences. They are often obsessed with shame, anxiety and guilt as a result of such experiences and these could lead to physical and emotional harm, unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmissible disease like HIV/ AIDS.
It is the apparent gap in communication between our youngsters and their parent’s guardians, teachers and counselors that has laid the foundation that paved way to a host of high risk sexual behaviours such as homosexuality, lesbianism, incestuous acts, prostitution, rape, contraceptive use etc.

These indecent sexual behaviour culminates into deadly disease hat have constituted I health hazards to the uniformed adolescents.

Most of these problems would have been forestalled if parent and all concerned had done their duties at the right time. Rather, w resorts passing the buck in the face of the ugly consequences. Children and adolescents are encouraged to secure abortion of unwanted pregnancies since there are clinics that attend to them, condoms are sold in every pharmacy shop so the average adolescent that there is always a way out of the problem.

It should be noted that the issue of sexuality and reproduction is very central to human life; therefore there should be a concerted effort to prepare the budding adolescent on how to cope well with these issues. Where this is left undone, children/ adolescent have other sources of information that would be misleading and encourage their engagement in risky behaviours with ‘issued’ safety. The available sources of information on sexual matters to our adolescent are as follows (1) films and movies, radio, peers, friends, relations, magazines, novels, school, churches, mosques. Recently, through the internet children freely browse all sorts of indecent and pornographic films which predispose them to experiment with their bodies. The parents, teachers, guiding and counselors should carefully vet these sources, otherwise, the child may be thrown into confusion. The accurate and reliable information received by children from their parents early in life, empower them to resist any contradictions new knowledge might create.

Role of parent, Guardians, Teachers and Counsellor.

It is important that adolescents’ behaviour should be consciously modified early in life to identify with the need or pre- marital chastity. Adequate coping skills should also be inculcated gradually from child hood. It is important to emphasize here that the parents should not only pay attention to education the girl- child in these issues to be neglect of the boy- child which has been the practice. Both boys and girls need sex education equally since, without the boys’ persuasion in most cases, the girls will not become victims. Although today research evidence shows that the trend has changed; girls seem more anxious to have the boys meddle with them. Let the children/ adolescent know the consequences of such risky behaviour and enable them to develop constructive activities that will occupy them. Let the children know quite early in life what Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) means and how it is transmitted. Tell them that AIDS is real and the only sure way to prevent getting the disease is abstinence from pre-marital sex, self control and adequate knowledge refer children to documented information on AIDs. World Health Organization’s conservative estimate revealed that more than 5,000 people become infected with HIV daily. In addition, 80% of the daily additional rate of HIV infection occurs in developing countries of which Nigeria is one. In sub-Saharan Africa about 12 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. Cite many cases of AIDS victims that have died that are known to them. Encourage them to listen to programmes organized on Aids through the media. This will help them to develop skills that will enable them to resist the temptation to indulge in pre marital sex, since more than80% of the infection is transmitted through blood donation- the blood must be screened, the instruments must be sterilized before you accept any form of treatment in hospital e.t.c. The counselors through the personal- social information service will work out planned programmes to educate the youth on issues that are central to their well being. Adolescent need to be trained on acquisition of assertive skills to know they have aright to say no to the unholy demand of the opposite sex.

This paper has demonstrated that it is the primary responsibility of the parents to educate their children on sexuality irrespective of gender. There is need to embark on an open air seminar on the issues of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible infections in all corners of our social Community the markets, churches, mosques, schools, etc. such seminars will be conducted and addressed in local languages to educate the parents and custodians of our children. Seminars and workshops should be organized for teachers and counselors to equip them with the knowledge and skills requisite for sex education of the children and adolescents. The education of adolescents about sexuality and other sexually transmissible diseases should be a joint enterprise of the custodians of children. However, parents have a larger share in this task, since effective sex education should be introduced quite early in life.
The counselor’s role; the counselor in the school system should be in a position to train the children to develop assertiveness skill to know their right and be able to make informed decisions regarding their sexual life. Counselors should enlighten the adolescents on the risk involved in indiscriminate sex and the need for abstinence until marriage. Discuss the devastating situation faced by HIV/AIDS victims during group counseling, find out factors that predispose young people to sexual promiscuity and lead them to learn through rationalization the hard experience of others.