From Godwin Agia, Jalingo
The Society for Family Health in collaboration with the Taraba State Ministry of Education, funded by the UNESCO, is set to train 1,111 teachers on education for health and wellbeing of students in Taraba state.
This was disclosed at an advocacy and sensitisation meeting on Education for Health and Wellbeing (EHW) organized by the Society for Family Health in Jalingo.
Speaking during the advocacy, Aisha Dadi, Programme Director of the Society for Family Health (SFH), presented the goals and objective of the project which is funded by UNESCO to the participants.
She further said that the Ministers of education and health made the commitment for education, healthy and thriving adolescents and young people in Kintele, Republic of Congo, on April 6, 2023. The commitment known as the West and Central Africa (WCA) commitment aims to promote education, healthy, and resilient adolescents and young people across 25 countries of the region.
She said with a growing population of adolescents and youth in WCA, there is an opportunity to reap an unprecedented demographic dividend if they are educated, healthy and employed.
“However, some challenges have to be overcome to be able to achieve this which includes; School completion rate, New HIV infection and knowledge of HIV, Risk associated with the use of internet, social norms and gender based violence, unmet needs for family planning, menstrual hygiene, early and unintended pregnancies, Drug abuse amongst many others.
“The UNESCO O3 project (“Our Rights, Our Lives Our Future”) which focuses on enhancing education, health and wellbeing for adolescents will be addressing some of the challenges in collaboration with the Federal and State Ministries of Education.
“In Taraba State, Society for Family Health (SFH) will support the Taraba State Ministry of Education to implement in the project in selected schools across three local governments areas; Jalingo, Gassol and Wukari.
“A total of 1, 111 teachers will be trained to enhance the wellbeing of the students in Primary and secondary schools in the state. SFH also requested that the Ministry of Education should collaborate with other stakeholders with the support of the office of the first lady to scale up the training to the remaining LGAs with strong supervision of the quality assurance directorate of the ministry”, she said.
She also emphasized on the important role of parents, religious and traditional leaders to provide all the enabling environment for the success of the project in their various localities.
In her addressed, the Taraba State Commissioner for Education, Dr Augustina Godwin stated that the aim of the meeting was to intensify the implementation of the Policy of Education for Health and Wellbeing (EHW)/Family Life and HIV Education (FLHE).
Represented by the Permanent Secretary ministry of Education, Alhaji Idris Goje, Augustina urged the participants to provide all the support needed to ensure the success of the programme in their various ministries and communities.
She emphasized that the success of the project will be in-line with the efforts of Governor Agbu’s free education policy.
The occasion also feature interactive session where stakeholders made their contributions on the way forward to ensure quality learning, health and wellbeing among learners in the State.
