School4Life: Helping young people make the right decisions

ITA programme educating youth on sexual and reproductive health.

LAHORE:

“A lot of young people make poor decisions due to the lack of education and information. The purpose of education is to help the young make the right decision through education,” said Syeda Ayesha Ali, programme manager of the Sexual Reproductive Health Rights Education Department of the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Agahi (ITA).

Ali was speaking to The Express Tribune, at the World Aids Day celebrations under the School4Life annual celebrations, as young children danced to Michael Jackson’s song ‘They don’t really care about us’.

The event at at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Friday evening was organised by Idara-e-Taleem-O-Agahi and Rutgers WPF.

An adaptation of Dance4Life global initiative, which helps spread awareness amongst the young regarding HIV-AIDS, the campaign was launched in Pakistan last year under the title of School4Life.

“The programme aims at teaching young people important life skills to help them make the right decisions about their future, their life and their health,” said Ali. The programme,  being run in four cities, including Islamabad, Lahore, Multan and Quetta, targets adolescents between 13 and 17 years of age.

“The programme works in four phases: the first step is to inspire someone to join it,” said Ali. “Once part of the programme, young people are then educated and later encouraged to pass on what they have learnt.”

“We then move to the celebrations, like the one we are having today, where we celebrate what we all have accomplished during the past year,” she said.

Ali, who is also managing the Life Skills Based Education at Rutgers, said they are currently working in 11 districts across Pakistan in collaboration with local partners. The LSBE programme is being taken up actively in the public education sector where schools are encouraged to incorporate LSBE in their curriculum, she said.

The Rutgers WPF team works closely with religious scholars and educationists to help adequately address sensitive topics. “We realise that these subjects are still taboo in Pakistani society…we aim to take on board various stakeholders to remove any apprehensions,” she said. The event also included several musical and dance performances.

Speaking at the event attended by students from various schools, Rutgers WPF country representative Qadeer Baig said the School4Life programme has been well received not just among students but also teachers and parents. The programme is being run in 28 countries worldwide. Baig said it was right of every child to have access to LSBE.

Youth Affairs, Sports, Archaeology and Tourism Department Secretary Haroon Ahmed Khan said, “At this vulnerable age, young people should know what to do and what not to do.” Speaking about HIV awareness, he said it was important to abandon the taboo on the subject and for parents to hold such discussions openly with their children.

Dr Baela Raza Jamil, the programmes director at ITA, said that since 70 per cent of the 180 million population of the country were below the age of 30, it was vital to educate them.

Under LSBE, almost 3, 500 schools are providing life skills and education on issues of health and reproduction to the youth.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2013.