{"id":883,"date":"2019-08-07T07:54:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T07:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kbisaac.com\/?p=883"},"modified":"2019-08-07T09:16:49","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T09:16:49","slug":"condoms-our-children-and-the-deed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/07\/condoms-our-children-and-the-deed\/","title":{"rendered":"CONDOMS, OUR CHILDREN AND THE DEED"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"460\" height=\"345\" src=\"https:\/\/kbisaac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/steer3-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-885\" srcset=\"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/steer3-1.jpg 460w, https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/steer3-1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share uagb-social-share__outer-wrap uagb-social-share__layout-horizontal\" id=\"uagb-social-share-f45a68dd-38c1-4b4b-a7e9-9f26b7356019\"><div class=\"uagb-social-share__wrap\"><div class=\"uagb-ss-repeater-0 uagb-ss__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 448 512\"><path d=\"M448 56.7v398.5c0 13.7-11.1 24.7-24.7 24.7H309.1V306.5h58.2l8.7-67.6h-67v-43.2c0-19.6 5.4-32.9 33.5-32.9h35.8v-60.5c-6.2-.8-27.4-2.7-52.2-2.7-51.6 0-87 31.5-87 89.4v49.9h-58.4v67.6h58.4V480H24.7C11.1 480 0 468.9 0 455.3V56.7C0 43.1 11.1 32 24.7 32h398.5c13.7 0 24.8 11.1 24.8 24.7z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"uagb-ss-repeater-1 uagb-ss__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M459.37 151.716c.325 4.548.325 9.097.325 13.645 0 138.72-105.583 298.558-298.558 298.558-59.452 0-114.68-17.219-161.137-47.106 8.447.974 16.568 1.299 25.34 1.299 49.055 0 94.213-16.568 130.274-44.832-46.132-.975-84.792-31.188-98.112-72.772 6.498.974 12.995 1.624 19.818 1.624 9.421 0 18.843-1.3 27.614-3.573-48.081-9.747-84.143-51.98-84.143-102.985v-1.299c13.969 7.797 30.214 12.67 47.431 13.319-28.264-18.843-46.781-51.005-46.781-87.391 0-19.492 5.197-37.36 14.294-52.954 51.655 63.675 129.3 105.258 216.365 109.807-1.624-7.797-2.599-15.918-2.599-24.04 0-57.828 46.782-104.934 104.934-104.934 30.213 0 57.502 12.67 76.67 33.137 23.715-4.548 46.456-13.32 66.599-25.34-7.798 24.366-24.366 44.833-46.132 57.827 21.117-2.273 41.584-8.122 60.426-16.243-14.292 20.791-32.161 39.308-52.628 54.253z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"uagb-ss-repeater-2 uagb-ss__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"mailto:?body=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path d=\"M160 448c-25.6 0-51.2-22.4-64-32-64-44.8-83.2-60.8-96-70.4V480c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h256c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32V345.6c-12.8 9.6-32 25.6-96 70.4-12.8 9.6-38.4 32-64 32zm128-192H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v16c25.6 19.2 22.4 19.2 115.2 86.4 9.6 6.4 28.8 25.6 44.8 25.6s35.2-19.2 44.8-22.4c92.8-67.2 89.6-67.2 115.2-86.4V288c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32zm256-96H224c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32h96c33.21 0 60.59 25.42 63.71 57.82l.29-.22V416h192c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32V192c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32zm-32 128h-64v-64h64v64zm-352-96c0-35.29 28.71-64 64-64h224V32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32H96C78.33 0 64 14.33 64 32v192h96v-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap has-medium-font-size\"><p align=\"justify\" class=\"has-drop-cap has-medium-font-size\">On Tuesday 4<sup>th<\/sup>\nJune 2019, I was privileged to be part of a consultative workshop at the\nAfrican Reagent Hotel, convened to validate the <em>Ghana State of Youth Development Report<\/em>. As part of the activities\nto achieve the goal of the programme, participants were given the opportunity\nto suggest aspects of youth development in Ghana that may not have been\ncaptured adequately in the report for consideration. We were grouped in our areas\nof specialisation to note such omitted areas and present same to the\nplenary.&nbsp; By virtue of my interest and\nspecialisation in health as a sociologist, I joined the health domain group.\nOur discussion was coordinated by Joshua Atabinore Akharigeya, a gentleman from\nPPAG. Fortunately for him, he was the one to present our suggestions. He took\nthe opportunity to make a strong appeal for <em>condom\ndemonstration<\/em> in Ghanaian schools. His argument was that, the children were\nhaving sex anyway and getting into undesirable consequences; condom\ndemonstration would show them how to have <em>safe\nsex<\/em>.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I did not give\nthis a lot of thought until Sunday 21<sup>st<\/sup> July 2019. I attended church\nservice as usual at Atwima Brofoyedu near Kumasi. This particular day, Douglas\nOcran, our national children\u2019s pastor visited us. He decided to take a moment\nto passionately encourage parents to \u2018fortify\u2019 their children against\nprevailing pressures by investing in their spiritual development. At a point\none of the reasons he gave for this fortification was the changing paradigm in\nthe educational syllabus and the emergence of Comprehensive Sexuality Education\n(CSE) in Ghanaian schools. He said, \u201cBefore you realise, your children will be\ntaught how to use <em>condoms<\/em> in school.\u201d\nHis point was that such content in the educational curriculum would be\ndetrimental to children. Just as he voiced this concern my mind went back to\nthe consultative workshop. Indeed, there is a high level advocacy for an\nincreased depth in Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in Ghanaian schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Obviously, the church and PPAG have different goals. Whilst the church offers hope that adolescents can abstain from sex outside marriage through the power of the gospel, organisations like PPAG try to offer hope of preventing some undesirable consequences of unprotected sex. But between the arguments for and against condom demonstration in schools stand the realities of sex, pregnancy, abortion and STIs among adolescents. I prefer not to go into any statistics. But let me point out some media reports on pregnant 2019 BECE candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Nine (9) teenage mothers and eight (8) pregnant teenagers sat for the examination in the Asante Akim North District. The District Director of Education is quoted to have said that \u201cThere could be more pregnancies.\u201d (Myjoyonline.com, 11<sup>th<\/sup> June 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Twelve (12) pregnant\ngirls wrote the examination in the Bolgatanga Municipality (Ghana News Agency, 11<sup>th<\/sup>\nJune 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Seven (7)\npregnant girls wrote the exam in the Awutu Senya West District (Adomonline, 11<sup>th<\/sup>\nJune 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">About ten (10) candidates in the Savelugu municipality were unable to sit for the exams due to pregnancy (Peacefmonline, 11<sup>th<\/sup> June 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Eleven (11)\npregnant girls were among candidates the Tano North Municipality (Ghana News\nAgency, 13<sup>th<\/sup> June, 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Three (3)\npregnant girls and one (1) lactating mother in the Berekum West District; Four (4)\npregnant girls in the Tarkwa-Nsueam Municipality; Three (3) pregnant candidates\nin the Agona East District; One candidate in Sissala East gave birth to a\nbouncy baby girl right after writing the first paper on Monday (The Chronicle,\n14<sup>th<\/sup> June 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Remember these figures are a sample of media reports on pregnant girls for only the 2019 BECE. I have not even added anything about the boys who may have impregnated them. In fact other issues like abortions and STI\u2019s have not been mentioned. &nbsp;<strong>So how do we deal with this? <\/strong><em>The Church\u2019s way <\/em>or<em> the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) way?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p align=justify class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Sexual urge, natural human instinct is fresh and strong in adolescents. It is also natural that sex will lead to pregnancy when had at the right time and in the right way. Apart from natural and traditional ways of preventing pregnancy, technology has given us various avenues to prevent pregnancy. Some of which are the use of condoms, pills, vasectomy, tubal litigation, diaphragms, cervical caps, sponges, spermicides, patches, injections, vaginal rings, implants, etc. The question is, should we give adolescents knowledge of all these? Should we encourage them to use any of these methods at their age? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\" class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Sociologically, society answers these questions. We as a society determine what approved behaviour is and what is not. In that case there must be a national conversation about the matter. CSE is already in our educational curriculum. It is just that some aspects like <em>condom demonstration<\/em> are not allowed. While I wish this does not go any further than it has reached, I see that the trajectory of our society\u2019s development is leading to a more detailed CSE in our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share uagb-social-share__outer-wrap uagb-social-share__layout-horizontal\" id=\"uagb-social-share-f45a68dd-38c1-4b4b-a7e9-9f26b7356019\"><div class=\"uagb-social-share__wrap\"><div class=\"uagb-ss-repeater-0 uagb-ss__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 448 512\"><path d=\"M448 56.7v398.5c0 13.7-11.1 24.7-24.7 24.7H309.1V306.5h58.2l8.7-67.6h-67v-43.2c0-19.6 5.4-32.9 33.5-32.9h35.8v-60.5c-6.2-.8-27.4-2.7-52.2-2.7-51.6 0-87 31.5-87 89.4v49.9h-58.4v67.6h58.4V480H24.7C11.1 480 0 468.9 0 455.3V56.7C0 43.1 11.1 32 24.7 32h398.5c13.7 0 24.8 11.1 24.8 24.7z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"uagb-ss-repeater-1 uagb-ss__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M459.37 151.716c.325 4.548.325 9.097.325 13.645 0 138.72-105.583 298.558-298.558 298.558-59.452 0-114.68-17.219-161.137-47.106 8.447.974 16.568 1.299 25.34 1.299 49.055 0 94.213-16.568 130.274-44.832-46.132-.975-84.792-31.188-98.112-72.772 6.498.974 12.995 1.624 19.818 1.624 9.421 0 18.843-1.3 27.614-3.573-48.081-9.747-84.143-51.98-84.143-102.985v-1.299c13.969 7.797 30.214 12.67 47.431 13.319-28.264-18.843-46.781-51.005-46.781-87.391 0-19.492 5.197-37.36 14.294-52.954 51.655 63.675 129.3 105.258 216.365 109.807-1.624-7.797-2.599-15.918-2.599-24.04 0-57.828 46.782-104.934 104.934-104.934 30.213 0 57.502 12.67 76.67 33.137 23.715-4.548 46.456-13.32 66.599-25.34-7.798 24.366-24.366 44.833-46.132 57.827 21.117-2.273 41.584-8.122 60.426-16.243-14.292 20.791-32.161 39.308-52.628 54.253z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><div class=\"uagb-ss-repeater-2 uagb-ss__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"mailto:?body=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewbox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path d=\"M160 448c-25.6 0-51.2-22.4-64-32-64-44.8-83.2-60.8-96-70.4V480c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h256c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32V345.6c-12.8 9.6-32 25.6-96 70.4-12.8 9.6-38.4 32-64 32zm128-192H32c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v16c25.6 19.2 22.4 19.2 115.2 86.4 9.6 6.4 28.8 25.6 44.8 25.6s35.2-19.2 44.8-22.4c92.8-67.2 89.6-67.2 115.2-86.4V288c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32zm256-96H224c-17.67 0-32 14.33-32 32v32h96c33.21 0 60.59 25.42 63.71 57.82l.29-.22V416h192c17.67 0 32-14.33 32-32V192c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32zm-32 128h-64v-64h64v64zm-352-96c0-35.29 28.71-64 64-64h224V32c0-17.67-14.33-32-32-32H96C78.33 0 64 14.33 64 32v192h96v-32z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sexual urge, natural human instinct is fresh and strong in adolescents. It is also natural that sex will lead to pregnancy when had at the right time and in the right way. Apart from natural and traditional ways of preventing pregnancy, technology has given us various avenues to prevent pregnancy. Some of which are the use of condoms, pills, vasectomy, tubal litigation, diaphragms, cervical caps, sponges, spermicides, patches, injections, vaginal rings, implants, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[11,10,12],"class_list":["post-883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-non-academic","tag-children","tag-condom","tag-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/isaacoseiowusu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}