Students at Iponga and Nyungwe Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) in Karonga have commended Pamoza Tingakwaniska Youth Organization for the inclusion of the schools in their project saying the move will bring a positive impact on the school-going youths.
The remarks were made on Tuesday and Wednesday following an interface meeting that the Organization held with students at the two facilities to orient them on their Wanangwa Wane Project that Pamoza is currently carrying out with funding from Breuckmann Foundation and the German Government’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In an interview, Head Girl at Nyungwe CDSS Jenala Simbeye, said the inclusion of her school in the project is a morale booster to the students in as far as Sexual Reproductive Health rights and information is concerned.
“In most cases, issues of SRH are taboos subjects so to have youth clubs where students can meet and interact freely to talk about such issues can only be a good thing as far as getting students to open up, learn and teach each other on SRH and family planning,” she said.
On her part Teacher and Matron of a School Club at Iponga CDSS Temwa Zachariah, said the initiative will positively impact the students as through the youth clubs they will be in a better place to make well-informed decisions about their sexuality and issues of SRH rights and services.
“Being a school that is close to the border a lot of our young girls are married off in the communities and across the border therefore the inclusion of our school in their project will have a significant impact, especially on our girls who lacked knowledge on their SRH rights among others,” explained Zachariah.
Program Manager for the Organization Gomezani Mhango said the inclusion of these two Schools in their project aims at equipping students with information on SRHS and dispelling myths and misconceptions about family planning services.
She further said they want is to see the students become champions on such matters so that they can become advocates to fellow youths to embrace zero tolerance to early sexual activities to avoid teen pregnancies and school dropouts.