Follow Us on Google
From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Ogene Ifunanya Women Association (OIWA) in conjunction with Women Aid Collective (WACOL) yesterday sensitized secondary school students on the dangers of gender based violence.
The sensitization workshop which held at Great Transformation Academy, in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State was one in a series of such efforts by the group.
The President of the association, Mrs Agnes Odo who revealed that the programme was funded by Actionaid said that the aim was to equip the students with the right knowledge at a very young age.
“We are here to talk to sensitize the students on the dangers gender based violence which includes rape, teenage pregnancy, early marriage, domestic abuse and others.
“We told them to be in control of what they want to be in the future. We thank God that we were accepted here. They were all happy with the message we brought. We want the people to understand that whether one is male or female, they person is first of all human. So we want to get this to the schools so that change will start from there.
The facilitator of the event, Mrs Virginia Obiano said that the essence of the training was to sensitize on the effects of gender based violence especially against women and girls.
“We talked more on the violence against women in the family, in the society and in the school. We linked these issues up with the laws passed in Enugu State.
“Why we are talking to them is that young people are creative and innovative. They have to begin now to transform from the the cultural norms that act as impediment to women and girls development. You can see that they were happy.
One of the students, Theresa Okafor said she has learnt that she should be treated equally with her male colleagues in school and her male siblings at home since they were all human beings.
“Everybody must be treated the same way because God created us in the same manner. We also learnt about other forms of gender based violence such as rape and early marriage. They also told us to avoid premarital sex.”
Another student, Joshua Oko said that the sensitization workshop has helped him to refocus on what the future holds for him rather than commit crimes that could land him in jail.
“I learnt that we should think on good things not thinking about negative things in this world. We should think about what you will become in the future, not thinking about how you will rot in jail.
“One other thing we were taught is that duties, even in the house should be balanced. They also talked about boys not beating girls, intimidating them, raping them and all those bad things.”
