Madam Xoese Ashigbi, a Nutritionist at the Akatsi North District Health Directorate, has said sex education for preteens is to teach them to understand developing into adulthood, and not a means to encourage them to engage in sex.

She said sex education helped the teens to identify and prevent indecent advances by sexual predators, hence the need for parents to allow their children to be taught that at school.

Madam Ashigbi said this during a durbar at the Ave Avevi Community in the Akatsi North District, which formed part of the ‘Ghanaians Against Child Abuse (GACA)’ campaign.

She said education on sexuality must begin from the home, since parents mostly had the trust of their children and could safely communicate the topic to the developing minds.

She appealed to parents to encourage their female children to patronise the iron folic supplements administered every Wednesday to girls aged 10 and above at school, to help replenish blood levels, which usually fell either as a result of menstruation or poor nutrition.

The GACA campaign, launched in 2017, is to help prevent all forms of child abuses nationwide, and driven by stakeholders including the ministries of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Local Governance and Rural Development, and Education, the Canadian Government, USAID, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and UNICEF.

As part of the campaign’s child protection social drive this year, 16 communities in the Adaklu, Akatsi North, North Dayi, and the Central Tongu districts of the Volta Region would be visited with sensitisation durbars.

The communities would be educated through drama by the resident drama group of the Centre for National Culture in Ho, which explores themes including child abuse, education, sexual rights, and adolescent health.

Resource persons from the Gender Ministry and the Ghana Education Service also educated participants on child rights.