Sioka opposes condoms at schools

THE Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Doreen Sioka, has slammed suggestions by the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) that condoms be distributed at schools.

Sioka embarked on a working visit to schools in the Kavango Region this week, during which she was set to deliver motivational talks on teenage pregnancies, gender-based violence and passion killings.Speaking at the Sauyemwa Combined School on the outskirts of Rundu yesterday, Sioka said condoms should not be distributed at schools, as school premises ‘are a place for teaching and learning, and not for promoting sexual activity’.The minister said she was totally opposed to the idea proposed by the SPYL, and said that schools ‘do not have bedrooms where sex can be conducted, but only chairs, desks and computers used for teaching and learning’.She said teachers are only at school until the afternoons, while ‘sexually active learners in most cases indulge in adultery during the night while in the care of their parents’. ‘Let’s discourage condom distribution at schools. If they want condoms, they should go to the hospitals,’ Sioka said.SPYL secretary Elijah Ngurare said at a media conference which followed the youth league’s congress in August that Government should consider distributing condoms in schools as part of efforts to reduce infectious diseases and teenage pregnancies.Sioka also spoke out strongly against parents who let their children sell their bodies in order to put food on the table, and said such tendencies should be stopped as the parents are putting their children at risk.Sioka advised children to report parents sending them to collect what she called ‘devil money’ to their traditional authorities, regional councillors, the police and the gender ministry’s offices. She also lashed out at ‘sugar daddies’ having affairs with young girls, calling such men ‘ghosts, witches and unwise and stupid men’ whose selfish interest destroys young girls’ future.With the summer holidays drawing near, the minister said she was worried that some girls might not return to school next year as they may end up getting married over the holidays, while others might fall pregnant.She cautioned the girls present during her talk to not become teenage mothers, but to wait until they are mature enough, stressing further that Government was worried about the teenage pregnancy rate in the Kavango Region. Sioka furthermore accused learners of misusing Government’s policy on teenage pregnancy, which allows them to return to school three months after delivering their babies. – Nampa