The National Institute of Educational Development (NIED) in partnership with UNESCO and UNICEF is rolling out training of Life Skills Teachers on revised Life skills curriculum including HIV and Sexuality Education for Grades 4 -7. The training which started in March 2015 will run through to November 2015. At least 500 Life skills teachers are expected to be reached.
The training is aimed at equipping teachers with skills of how to present Life Skills as a subject and in particular how to deal with sensitive topics (e.g. puberty, sex, teenage pregnancy, condom use) in classrooms.
The UNESCO Office in Windhoek is implementing two main projects —”Strengthening sexual and reproductive health and HIV prevention amongst children and young people” supported by SIDA and “Accelerating Education Sector Response to HIV and AIDS in Namibia” supported by UNAIDS within the Unified Budget, Results and Accountability Framework.
These projects support the national response to HIV and AIDS, especially HIV prevention efforts for young people. In that regard, the projects work with the education sector to strengthen, scale up and monitor the delivery of HIV and Sexuality Education in schools in Namibia.
To date the project supported capacity building of curriculum developers on sexuality education; curriculum review of life skills subject and ensuring that sexuality education content is strengthened in the curriculum; development of teaching and learning materials to support the delivery of HIV and Sexuality Education at classroom level.
UNESCO also supported the Ministry of Education in the integration and reporting on HIV and AIDS-sensitive indicators in the Education Management Information System (EMIS); and dissemination of Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) Ministerial Commitment on why people need Sexuality Education and Sexual Reproductive Health Services.