Mother of Perpetual Help Center’s program to give education and awareness to the youth in schools has been going on now into its 8th year. Starting out on a small scale as mentioned in the villages has developed into an important and essential activity of the Center with the hope that in the future the continued spread of aids will begin to decrease. The Center has now covered all Junior High School students in all 6 Districts—each year with 20 to 25 schools participating in the program. The Center is now beginning with a second round with an entirely new generation of students. The program is an intensive one which begins with a 3 day camp where student and teacher representatives from all of the 20/25 schools participate and are given training about aids and its dangers. After the camp those participating help staff from the Center in a two day follow-up program at each of their schools to give the rest of the student bodies the same education and awareness. During the camp and during the follow-up program students participate in small and large group activities in sports, small group and large group discussions. This program has been well accepted by the schools, by the Education Department as well as Health Department and other government agencies, including the Social Welfare Department. Follow-up in each of the schools takes a lot of time, but is well worth the efforts being made. At each of the schools a further 100 to 200 students go through the program so that at the end of the year 3 to 4,000 students go through the program. It is still too early to know the full impact of these efforts, but indications from teachers and other officials give a positive response to this project. Government programs are less involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment