The Savanna Signatures, a Tamale-based non-governmental organisation, has trained teachers from 10 schools in the Northern Region in comprehensive sexuality.

The aim of the training is to equip teachers to enable them to help educate teenagers at the junior high schools (JHS) to avoid immoral acts that would lead to teenage pregnancies.

The training is under the NGO’s teacher facilitation training programme dubbed ‘My World and My Life’ (MWML), which is being piloted in some schools to equip the beneficiary teachers with skills to carry out education on sexual behaviour.

The Executive Director of Savanna Signatures, Mr Stephen Agbenyo, speaking at the opening of the one-week programme, advised participants to not hide issues of reproductive sexual health from pupils, saying: “The more we don’t tell them the truth about sex, the more they want to explore.”

He said the NGO would continue to embark on projects and programmes that would help improve the welfare and smooth growth of younger persons.

The MWML is a comprehensive sexuality education curriculum developed for pupils from 10-14 years as well as a 14-lesson curriculum comprising sexuality, human feelings and body changes, sexually transmitted infections prevention methods and future plans.

The programme is being piloted in four schools in the Tamale Metropolis and five in the East Mamprusi District where some 18 teachers are being trained by some officials from the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service so as to make the programme effective.

The Project Manager of Savanna Signatures, Ms Alhassan Fousia Tuah, said the training of the teachers had become necessary because they were in direct contact with the children all the time.

She said though the teachers were trained they needed to receive capacity building in facilitating lessons in their schools in line with the NGO’s aims and objectives to ensure that the programme succeeds.

Madam Sanderijn Van Der Doef, a master trainer of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights from the office of Rutgers WPF in the Netherlands talked about the importance of sex education among the youth especially those at the JHS who were sexually active.

Mr Abu Musah, Programmes Co-ordinator of ASEG, a partner NGO of the project, lauded the project, which is being adapted from Uganda, and told the participants of the enormous benefits that would be derived directly and indirectly from the MWML.