5,000 students sensitized on sexually related issues

Prampram, Jan. 31, GNA - More than 5,000 students have been sensitized on sexually related issues within Dangme West District by personnel of the Tema office of Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DVVSU) within the past three weeks.

This forms part of the outreach and community policing programme introduced by the Ghana Police Service.

Mrs Rebecca Nyamah, Head of Tema DVVSU, said the unit realized that sexually related cases had been on the increase amongst the youth. She said with pupils in the upper primary and students in Junior Secondary Schools as its target group, decided to educate them on some of these issues and the need to seek assistance from the Police when sexually abused.

Mrs Nyamah addressing a sensitization programme at Prampram Women's Training Institute, said poverty, illiteracy, child neglect and other forms of abuse were some of the issues that inhibited women's development.

She explained some of the activities of DVVSU and advised them on how to defend themselves when being forced into sex. Mrs Nyamah advised them not to hesitate to report to the nearest Police station or any elderly person in their communities when they were abused, for the perpetrators to be punished to deter others. Ms Sabina Ama Blay, a member of the Unit advised the students to concentrate on their education and desist from activities that would lure them into early sex.

Last year the Unit recorded 61 defilement cases and 1,018 cases of child neglect.