Health and Family Life Educators from across the island began a one week training programme on Monday July 8, 2013
The programme which is being hosted at the Public Service Training Centre is funded by the United Nations Children Fund.
Acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Chandler Hyacinth in her address at the Official Opening Ceremony spoke of her expectations of this week's training.
“We expect to see our students develop as they release their capabilities, as we help them to develop their confidence, as we help to instil in them as young people the kind of good setting they need, the kind of things they will need to become more self motivated and we expect to see you the teachers making an effort in terms of improving the learning environment in our classrooms. For HFLE to reach our students, it has to be taught in a creative way, with active learning. For too long, HFLE has not been recognized, even among teachers... they do not place emphasis on HFLE but it is a vital aspect of the educational system that we are providing.”
Senior Education Officer, Nicholas Goldberg explained the importance of the increasing focus on Health and Family Life Education at schools.
“Statistics show that even in Dominica, fifteen percent of the population indicated on surveys that they became sexually active under the age of fifteen. These are just some of the figures of what is happening in Dominica and this obviously shows the need for HFLE Education. The second reason given by UNICEF is escalating incidents of family and youth interpersonal bounds which are often related to alcohol and drug abuse.”
This week’s workshop is part of efforts by the Ministry of Education to raise the awareness of the island’s teachers about the importance of Health and Family Life Education.
Six HFLE Teachers have been accepted to complete a diploma course in the HFLE programme, mainly in the area of instruction with the UWI Open Campus and later today the persons will be informed as to who they are. We want to thank the teachers who have shown an interest and that means our HFLE teachers are interested in advancing themselves as they work to improving the delivery of HFLE in our classrooms. Also to, we also want to thank UNICEF as well for their support.”