Equipping education students with skills and knowledge for teaching life-skills-based health education

Posted by Letswalo L Marobane on 18 January 2024, 10:45 SAST

UNESCO

The links between education and health have received increasing attention, both of which are basic human rights.

In a bid to strengthen the capacities of future educators, online Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) training workshops took place during the month of September 2023 in the Khomas, Oshana, and Zambezi regions. The training was hosted by the International University of Management (IUM) Dorado Campus, the University of Namibia (UNAM) Main, Hifikepunye Pohamba and Katima Mulilo Campuses, and facilitated by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, UNESCO, and UNFPA.

This online course has been developed as an accessible resource to support the training of teachers and other educators to deliver school-based sexuality education in East and Southern Africa including Namibia. The online course builds on and extends efforts in the country to provide good quality comprehensive sexuality education that contributes to building the critical skills and attitudes that, combined with accurate knowledge, lead to the development of healthy behaviour among adolescents and young people. The course recognizes that effective delivery of age – appropriate, culturally relevant and scientifically accurate information about sexuality, including HIV requires highly skilled, motivated educators who are also comfortable with the subject matter.

A total of 553 final-year student teachers from the Faculty of Education benefited from this course with the aim to bolster their readiness to engage students in critical dialogues surrounding health education, thereby fostering a generation that is well-informed and empowered to make informed decisions regarding their health.