Region Four educators exposed to advanced HFLE training -initiative aimed at reducing social ills

Jan 08, 2019 News

Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) is a programme aimed at promoting life skills for youths, which zero-in on knowledge and skill development for the whole person. Recognising the usefulness of this programme, the Region Four Department of Education has been making moves to take advantage of HFLE to help tackle social ills.
This development has been engaged even as the new school term begins.
The Department in this regard recently targeted several teachers who will be tasked with delivering the HFLE programmes within schools across the region.
In what is being described as an aggressive effort to further enhance the skills and knowledge of the teachers, a one-day training session was held for 57 HFLE educators of secondary level schools. The training dealt with a number of issues and further sought to better inform teachers on how to effectively handle issues, thus ensuring that they are properly addressed.
Coordinator of the HFLE programme within the Ministry of Education, Ms. Colleen King-Cameron, spearheaded the one-day training, which was held under the theme ‘Strengthening HFLE for youth empowerment’. Lending support as a facilitator was Ms. Esther Utoh of the Cyril Potter College of Education [CPCE].
Both officials emphasised that such training is pivotal in enhancing teachers’ knowledge and skills, recognising that there continues to be an increase in social ills faced by many schoolchildren. Moreover, they both noted that such training is geared at helping to better reduce some of the challenges and difficulties that the teaching staff and students are confronted with at schools, thus ensuring that there is a more conducive environment for learning.
According to King-Cameron, the objectives of the recent one-day workshop was to provide participants with an overview of the nature and goals of HFLE, while providing them with the opportunity to practice teaching the common curriculum lessons along with other teachers.
The participants were also exposed to useful strategies and tips for teaching these lessons.

Ms. Esther Utoh (left) and HFLE Coordinator, Ms. Colleen King-Cameron.

The HFLE experts noted too, that the training was geared towards assisting the participants in developing competence in equipping students with the necessary skills to make decisions and to deal with life dilemmas using common sense. The training session, it was revealed, sought to enhance the participants’ standard of delivering lessons in life skills.
King-Cameron stressed that HFLE has had a strong and deep tradition in Guyana and the Diaspora that has helped to build on the culture of the region.
“This training is very important, as it seeks to enhance and further develop the skills and knowledge of the HFLE educators within Region Four, thus reducing several of the social ills that they are confronted within the schools, while at the same time educating the students on dealing with several of their challenges,” King-Cameron added.
Even as she reiterated the importance of the HFLE training, she noted that her department, with the full backing of the Ministry of Education, is poised to continue to hold such training within the various administrative regions of Guyana.
“We are holding similar training like these throughout the regions, and I am very pleased with the responses from the educators, as it shows that they have a keen interest in enhancing this programme, and [this session] was no different as the excitement and eagerness of the educators in Region Four truly demonstrates that this region will address HFLE issues aggressively and diligently, and that is an excellent step,” she asserted.
Meanwhile, facilitator Utoh underscored that such a training session will help to develop the efforts of teachers and teacher educators alike to infuse health lessons into the curriculum.
“This training is critically important and we are very happy that the responses and knowledge being exhibited by the educators demonstrate that they have a sound idea of what they are expected to do, and what should be done in further advancing the programme while addressing various challenges and difficulties that they may be confronted with,” Utoh stressed.

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