ADOLESCENCE HEALTH PROGRAMME: A PERFECT SUCCESS IN SCHOOL HEALTH EDUCATION

[BEST PRACTICE DOCUMENTATION UNIT OF KSACS]

ADOLESCENCE HEALTH PROGRAMME: A PERFECT SUCCESS IN SCHOOL HEALTH
EDUCATION
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The Adolescence Health Education Programme (AHEP), implemented by
Kerala State AIDS Control Society through the State Council for
Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in four district viz.
Kozhikode, Wayanad, Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta, become a great
success in imparting life skill education among school going
adolescents, helping them to protect themselves from HIV infection and
manage their concerns pertaining to reproductive and sexual health.
The programme addressed the students of 9th and 11th Standards in all
the 652 High Schools and 336 Higher Secondary Schools of these
districts.

Since talking about sex is a taboo in Kerala society, adolescents are
often reluctant to approach elders like their parents, teachers, etc
for guidance to cope with the rapid changes on their physical,
emotional, social, intellectual or spiritual realms. Those who seek
guidance are not satisfied because the latter try to evade discussion
or are not able to give satisfactory answers. A few of them may try to
gather information from books, films or friends but a majority of them
does not have access to such information. In many occasions, the
adolescent receives false or wrong information and these myths and
misconceptions are carried throughout their life. This may make them
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, STIs, unwanted pregnancy, alcoholism, drug
abuse, anti-social activities, etc. The incursion of information
technology and its misuse increases the quodlibet. Thus there is an
urgent need to provide adolescents with information so as to enable
them to cope with these changes in a better manner.

Though there is an urgent need to educate adolescents on changes,
particularly those related to sex, parents oppose such educational
programmes due to the fear that it would lead to experimentation with
sex. There have been several such incidences of resistance in Kerala
that blocked adolescence education programmes implemented in schools
by various agencies. The success of the narrated ‘adolescence health
education programme’ in the selected 988 schools is that it never
created any allegation or disagreement from any section of the
society. The methodology adopted for implementation is the cause of
this success.

Before implementing the programme, a serious workshop of State level
resource persons jointly organized by KSACS and SCERT was organized to
develop an action plan for implementation. Based on this action plan,
a State Coordination Committee was formed under the Chairmanship of
the Secretary, General Education and District level coordination
committees at all district headed by the President of respective
District Panchayaths. Mean while, a teacher training module was
developed with the approval of the Curriculum Committee. Further to
this, the programme trained 71 social workers from these Districts as
Resource persons for the District Level implementation. With the help
of these District Level Resource Persons, the programme selected one
male and one female teacher from each of the 988 selected schools and
trained them as Nodal Teachers for school level implementation of the
programme.

The trained nodal teachers formed School Level Coordination Committee
in their respective schools for implementing the adolescence health
education programmes. The Committee is responsible in implementing and
monitoring the adolescence health education programmes in the
respective schools. With their approval, the trained Nodal teachers
conducted sensitization programmes for all teachers and parents of all
children studying in the 9th and 11th Standards. Through this
endeavor, parents and teachers became well awakened to the issue and
it in turn forestalled the resistance of parents and teachers to the
programme. With their approval, the Nodal Teachers conducted 16 hour’s
class room session on Adolescent Health Education for the students of
9th and 11th standards. The sessions mainly dealt with essential life
skills, the process of growing up (Physical and mental), health and
hygiene, nutrition, sexually transmitting diseases, substance abuse,
etc. The programme placed the Nodal Teachers as a Counsellor and
reliable friend to the Children in need to share their issues and
clarify their genuine doubts. In addition to the class room sessions,
the Nodal teachers conducted co-curricular activities like debate,
role plays, essay competitions, drawing competitions, poster
competitions, painting competitions, etc. on subjects allied to
adolescent health education.

The success of the programme is reflected in the State wide extension
of the Adolescence Health Education Programme (AHEP). The State Level
Coordination committee ordered the conduct of the AHEP in all High
Schools, HSS, VHSS, Special Schools, SC/ST Schools of Kerala State
using the tested modus operandi in Wayanad, Kozhikode, Ernakulam and
Pathanamthitta Districts.