The Topic of AIDS/HIV is very difficult to discuss it is a subject that most rather not talk about because it has been tagged as a taboo subject. But the students of Isla Bonita Elementary School are not afraid to talk about this world wide pandemic, they have been educated about the subject and on Thursday, February, 23, 2012, Standard V & VI students held an open presentation at the school grounds to educate others about AIDS/HIV.
Mrs. Sharon Hazel, teacher of IBES, explained to Ambergris Today that students are taught about sexuality and introduced to the topic of AIDS at the end of the third term at the class of Standard IV. The topic is then discussed at a more advanced level once they are in Standard V and VI.
“This is part of the Health and Family Life Education Curriculum provided to us by the Ministry of Education,” stated Mrs. Sharon. “Some parents at times do not agree about the teaching of sexuality and STIs but some children are well aware of what sex is and some are already sexually active. We are not encouraging students to go out and start having sex but rather teaching them that when the time comes for them to do so they practice safe sex.”
The students are thought about prevention, abstinence, stigma/discrimination, empathy, care and support and a whole lot more that deal with the racy topic of AIDS. According to Mrs. Sharon the students do a great job at paying attention in class and asking questions and show interest in learning about AIDS.
Std V & VI students giving presentations to other students
“At first the students are a bit shy and don’t really want to say anything in class but little by little they get comfortable and discussions in class are really interesting and fun,” continued Mrs. Sharon. “We have had an invited guest speaker who is infected and the students were extremely nice and had lots of questions to ask and implied what they had learnt in class during their conversation with the guest.”
During the open day presentation students were divided in groups were they explained about abstinence, discrimination, prevention and displayed their posters as well as several pamphlets with information about AIDS which they themselves had personally made.
Mr. Felix Ayuso, Chairman of the SP AIDS Commission with Mrs. Sharon Hazel
Members of the San Pedro AIDS Commission were invited to the school for the presentation. They were briefed by students during their visit and were quite impressed with how much the students know about the topic.
“We are extremely happy with the teachers of this learning institution who are following the curriculum and incorporating the topic of HIV/AIDS” stated Chairman of the San Pedro AIDS Commission, Mr. Felix Ayuso. “We also want to say that we applaud the students for doing a wonderful presentation.”
Kudos to the teachers and staff of Isla Bonita Elementary School for doing a great job on educating these children about the topic of HIV/AIDS and to the students of IBES for putting up a great presentation.
