SENSITIZATON ON CHILD MARRIAGE . CHILD ONLINE SAFETY, ADOLESCENT PREGANCYAND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IN TWO SELECTED SCHOOLS

June 30, 2024
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SENSITIZATON ON CHILD MARRIAGE . CHILD ONLINE SAFETY, ADOLESCENT PREGANCYAND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IN TWO SELECTED SCHOOLS, 11^{TH –}12^TH JUNE, 2024.

The Department of Social Welfare and Community Development embarked on a two days sensitization programme in two selected schools.The department thought it wise to educate students due to the rising number of child marriage cases, adolescent pregnancy,gender based violence and child online safety within the district.

CHILD MARRIAGE

In simple terms, Child Marriage was defined by the Gender Desk Officer as a marriage or domestic partnership, formal or informal between a child and an adult or between a child and another child.

Also, some factors that lead to child to child marriage were also discussed, such as poverty, Gender inequality,social norms, cultural and traditional practices etc. The students were also taken through some effects of early marriage, such as physical and physiological problems on the child, depression and emotional distress, high risk pregnancy at that tender age.The students were made to understand that child marriage can lead to a lifetime suffering and the worst of it all death.

Child marriage can lead to a lifetime of suffering.
Girls who marry before they turn 18 are less likely to remain in school
Child marriage usually leads to Domestic violence.
Young teenage girls are more likely to die due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth than women in their 20s, and their children are more likely to be stillborn or die in the first month of life.

The students were encouraged to read more and educate themselves more on child marriage , ask questions on whatever bothering them to their teachers, parents or any elderly person they trust.

Students were also encouraged to report such cases to the department for redress and also taught about ways to avoid child marriage or betrothal..

TEENAGE PREGNANCY

The facilitator touched on teenage pregnancy and defined it as a pregnancy that occurs in a girl who is still a minor, typically under the age of 18 years. It is considered a significant health and social issue because it can have short term and long term consequences for the adolescent mother and child. The student were also taken through some of the causes are poverty, cultural or religious beliefs.

Data gathered also indicates that adolescent pregnancy has been on the rise, despite a slight decrease in 2023, The department also believe that a more intensive sensitisation will push the figures down.

The negative EFFECTS of teenage pregnancy are seen as

1: Teenage mothers having some Health implications

2 Adolescent being abused domestically

3: These young ones dropping out of school drop

The facilitator encouraged the students to read more and have a comprehensive understanding of abstinence, contraceptive techniques and some consequences of teenage pregnancy. She made them understand that although there are many different ways to prevent girl from getting pregnant, the only one that is absolutely effective is sexual abstinence.

CHILD ONLINE SAFETY

The insurgence of mobile devices in the country have increased the number of people having access to the internet, this has actually increased the number of students who have access to the internet.

Young people between 12-19 years have access to the internet through mobile phones. Due to the availability of cheap smartphones, this has increased significantly. While there is no data available on sexual abuse, violence and exploitation that children experience online, anecdotal evidence suggests that it is very much an issue.

The greater use of the Internet also increasingly exposes children and young people to the dangers of all forms of sexual abuse.

Children who we have spoken to have admitted to seeing pornographic materials when using the internet. Majority of them said they felt uncomfortable, shy or embarrassed being exposed to these pornographic images. There are a number of bottlenecks that need to be overcome to provide all girls and boys safety in their online environment. And this is what inspired the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development to run this program.

Two(2) selected schools were visited and were educated wholly on Child online safety. The sensitization began by asking the students how many of them have a smart phone connected to the internet. More than 70% raised their hands. The rest were asked how they access the internet, and their response was that, they use that of their elderly siblings and parents or guardians.

Child online safety was explained as being aware of the nature of the possible threats that you could encounter whilst engaging in activity through the Internet.

Facilitators went ahead to teach students on how to remain safe while using social media.

The following guidelines were listed for them:

Make sure that they don’t publish personal information like their location, email address, phone number or date of birth
Make sure they are very careful about what images and messages they post, even among trusted friends – once they are online they can be shared widely and are extremely difficult to get removed
Keep a record of anything abusive or offensive they’ve received and report any trouble to the site management (most sites have a simple reporting procedure, normally activated by clicking on a link on the page)
Make sure they’re aware that publishing or sharing anything which would mean breaking a copyright agreement is illegal
They should avoid meeting people they meet online in real life, and if they wish to do so, they should not go alone.
Be aware of online scams – offers which seem too good to be true.
Not to get into any online discussions about sex as these tend to attract potentially dangerous users

Since most of these students see Social Media as being very ‘cool’, they may be pressured by their friends into joining them.

As a result of this they were taken through the dangers or risks of using the internet, and the risks they need to be aware of are:

Cyber bullying (bullying using digital technology)
Invasion of privacy
Identity theft
Children seeing offensive images and messages
The presence of strangers who may be there to ‘groom’ other members negatively

After the education of the students, they asked of some safe websites for their learning, and facilitators gave them the below safe search engines suitable for them.

Ask Jeeves for Kids
Yahooligans

GENDER BASED VIOLENCE

The social Welfare officer also touched on Domestic violence and defined it as a pattern of behaviour in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. Domestic violence also known as domestic abuse can take many forms such as intimate partner abuse, child abuse, psychological violence, family violence, verbal violence

Domestic violence can have a long term effects on an individual as well chronic health problems such as asthma, epilepsy, digestive problems, migraine skin disorders etc. The students were made to understand that domestic violence can happen to anyone whether a child or an adult.

These forms of violence were discussed with the students to bring their knowledge to the fact that it is against the law for anyone to abuse them, they have rights and report to their teachers or anyone they trust if anything unusual is happening to them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the exercise was very interactive as students of Kpeve Senior high and Todome kpalime DA JHS shared their experiences on the topics discussed asked questions as well.the facilitators took their time to answer all questions.

Challenges

Lack of available vehicle to transport officers to the various schools and communities to sensitize them. Officers had to resort to the use of commercial motor vehicle for their activities.

Schools visited