Region Four training to help teachers address social ills
The Region Four Education Department recently held a one-day training session for teachers of Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) in a bid to combat social ills.
According to a Region Four press release, the exercise which targeted 57 of the educators from all of the secondary schools within Region Four, was timed to coincide with the school term which is about to begin.
The training dealt with a number of issues and sought to better inform teachers on how to effectively handle those issues, thus ensuring that they are properly addressed and or resolved, the release further stated.
Coordinator Head of the HFLE programme within the Ministry of Education, Colleen King-Cameron, spearheaded the one-day training, which was facilitated by Esther Utoh of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE). The training was held under the theme, “Strengthening HFLE for youth empowerment”.
Both King-Cameron and Utoh said that such training is crucial in enhancing teachers’ knowledge and skills while recognising that there continues to be an increase in social ills facing school children today.
King-Cameron noted that the training was geared towards assisting the participants in developing competence in equipping students with the necessary skills to make decisions and to deal with life dilemmas using common sense. Additionally, the training also sought to enhance the participants’ standard of delivering lessons in life skills.
“This training is very important as it seeks to enhance and further develop the skills and knowledge of the HFLE educators within Region Four, thus reducing several of the social ills that they are confronted with in the schools while at the same time educating the students on dealing with several of their challenges,” the Head was quoted as saying.
“We are holding similar training like these throughout the regions and I am very pleased with the responses from the educators as it shows that they have a keen interest in enhancing this programme and today was no different as the excitement and eagerness of the educators in Region Four truly demonstrates that this region will address HFLE issues aggressively and diligently and that is an excellent step,” she declared.