The voices of young people need to be heard and taken seriously in making plans and implementing strategies to deal with issues surrounding Health and Family Life Education (HFLE), delegates at the 17th meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) agreed on Tuesday.
A communiqué issued by the Caricom Secretariat yesterday stated that the meeting addressed HFLE in the context of the regional and global environment, examining situations in which young people may find themselves at risk from health and social factors, such as HIV and AIDS, sexuality, crime and violence, use of drugs and bullying. There was the agreement that implementation of programmes to deal with these issues should be a priority in the region, so as to address “the moral decline that is evident in society.”
The meeting also looked at the critical role education has to play in creating awareness of the need to maintain healthy lifestyles.
Also discussed was the promotion of a building code for new schools which should include changing rooms, showers, gyms and playing fields. This building code will support the policy of the inclusion of physical education (PE) as part of the curriculum for at least one hour per week at all levels of the school system.
The meeting sought to promote also, the provision of healthy school meals in all schools across the region and there was discussion of the development of a regional nutrition standard for healthy school meals and some sort of restriction on the sale of unhealthy foods on school premises by vendors.
A UNESCO presentation highlighted the need for reformed policies in dealing with inclusive education it indicated the need to move beyond inclusion as special education, and to focus on linking inclusion to the right for education for all.
The development in the cultural industry and its effects and implication for the education sector was also discussed. COHSOD endorsed the need for “improved, co-ordinated action with regard to human resource development for the cultural industries at all levels of the educational system,” the communiqué said.
The meeting received a progress report on the Caricom Commission on Youth Development (CCYD).
CCYD was established in response to the mandate from a meeting of the COHSOD to carry out a full scale situation analysis of the challenges and opportunities for young people in the CSME. A team has been collecting data on young people’s dreams and aspirations through focus groups discussions in twelve member states. The report also indicated that the strongest implication for the CSME was the lack of ownership by youth of the CSME. This is supposedly caused by what was described as “the information and education gap in the CSME.”
