By Philip Yatai

Some students in junior secondary schools in Kaduna State say the Family Life and Health Education (FLHE) programme in schools is transforming their lives for good.

The students stated this in Kaduna on Friday at the dissemination meeting of the Kaduna State Expanded FLHE Curriculum Pilot Study, supported by Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the expanded FLHE curriculum has five themes: Human Development, Relationship, HIV Infection, Personnel Skills and Society and Culture; mainstreamed into subjects taught in Junior Secondary schools.

Students, therefore, said that the programme had helped them in making positive lifestyle and informed decisions about hygiene, studies, as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights issues.

One of the students, Nura Kasim of Government Secondary School, Soba, said that the programme had helped him to stay away from unhealthy habits like drugs and truancy.

Kasim said he used to abscond from school and roam the streets with his friends, doing all kinds of things.

“The Family Life and Health Education programme has helped me to see why I need to concentrate and focus on my studies,” he said.

Another student, Divine Daniel of Government Secondary School, Sabon Sarki Junior, said that the programme helped him to report to his teachers and parents whenever he was bullied or forced to do something wrong.

Similarly, Edna Joshua of Government Girls Junior Secondary School, Zonkwa, said: “I have learned how to take care of myself by improving on personal hygiene and staying away from early relationships.”

Also, Ephrat Timothy of Queen Amina College, said the programme helped her to stay away from same sex and other unhealthy relationships and concentrate on her studies.

On her part, Luka Dawaliu of Government Secondary School, Tudun Mare, said that the programme had significantly reduced stigmatisation of students living with HIV in the school.

Some of the teachers who spoke at the event said that the programme had increased their capacity and confidence in teaching the students all they needed to know about family life and health education.

A teacher at Queen Amina College, Kaduna, Mrs Regina Garba, said that the programme had improved her capacity to counsel students to help them make good choices in life and boost their self-esteem.

Mr Jethro Dawali, the Principal, Government Secondary School, Mararaban Rido, Kaduna, said that the programme had reduced the incidence of drugs and significantly improved the morale of students.

Mr Ishaya Magaji, a teacher at Government Secondary School, Soba, Bele Road, also said that the programme had improved student/teacher relationship and helped teachers to delay early marriages in some homes.

Earlier, Mr Kabiru Lawal, the Coordinator of the programme in Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board, said that the study was conducted in 10 schools and 26 health facilities.

Lawal explained that the objective of the dissemination meeting was to look at progress recorded so far and get feedback on the impact of the programme and to design a sustainability plan.

Dr Sani Abubakar, the State Team Lead of CHAI, said that a pilot study on effectiveness of the programme on adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years was conducted between 2019 and 2021.

Abubakar said that the study conducted in Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Rivers, was to assess knowledge and attitude of adolescents on the concept of the expanded FLHE curriculum.

He added that it was also to assess sexual and reproductive health information and services uptake at Adolescent and Young Family Health Services facilities as referred by trained school faculty during the pilot implementation.

Abubakar maintained that the study was also to assess the acceptability of the expanded FLHE curriculum among schools, including teachers, nurses, guidance and counselors and principals.

He said that the findings showed a significant increase by 11 per cent in the knowledge and attitude towards Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights among adolescent boys and girls across the implementation schools.

He said that the findings also showed a two per cent decrease in knowledge recorded in non-implementation schools.