Plans to distribute condoms in schools draw mixed reactions

Following the recent launch of a campaign by health organisations, advocating for condom accessibility in secondary schools, teachers and school administrators are concerned about the initiative. According to the health organisations, youth in secondary schools continue to face difficulties in accessing condoms and contraceptives to help prevent the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies. The Director of King David Academy, Annet Mutamuliza, cautioned that access of condoms in schools would only encourage students to engage in sexual relations and promote immorality. “We should instead promote morality and advise the students to abstain. The solution to unwanted pregnancies and HIV/AIDS in schools should be telling the students the dangers of engaging in sex before marriage which leads to eternal death,” she said. However, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Dr. Jean Damascène Ntawukuliryayo, backed the plan saying that Rwandans should be aware and concerned about unwanted pregnancies in schools. “I support the campaign so as to curb the issue of unwanted pregnancies among students,” Ntawukuliryayo said. “Other solutions should also be devised such as responsibility of parents in the education of their children and include reproductive health, sexuality and family planning in all curricula in our schools”. The Headmaster of Lycee de Kigali, Martin Masabo, underscored that access to condoms should target higher institutions of learning and not secondary schools. “It will be difficult to punish students caught engaging in sex yet you are the same person giving them the condoms to use,” Masabo said. “We should instead instil discipline among students and urge them to abstain.” Naboth Mugisha, a medical personnel and father of two daughters, said that condoms should only come in as a last resort. “Accessibility of condoms to secondary schools will only give students the go ahead to have sex.Counselling and guiding students should be the solution to unwanted pregnancies and HIV/AIDS,” Mugisha emphasised. Clementine Umutoni, a mother of two, however, observed that it was necessary to distribute condoms in secondary schools, to prevent the HIV/AIDS scourge. Ends

National

Plans to distribute condoms in schools draw mixed reactions