Condoms no solution for teenage Aids

Who would want to be a teenager these days? The populist but unjust selection process for places in secondary schools has left parents angered and taught pupils that good performances rarely get rewarded.

The ministry of Education’s leadership and standards are crumbling by the day. With the commercialisation and privatisation of education at every level, the minister has let market forces determine the cost and quality of education. So parents are fleeced by bogus colleges and private profit making institutions.

A high school headmaster can take home more than his MP, which makes his position guarded and lucrative.

On top of all that comes the shocking news that 30 percent of all new HIV infections are among the youth. Worse still, this is the only age group that has seen an increase in the number of new infections in the past year. Other polls indicate that 80 percent of those teenage infections are a result of unprotected sex. Without being alarmist or prudish, you just know where this discussion is headed.

Yes, UNFPA are floating the notion of ‘Condoms for Kids’ and the government is testing public opinion before getting burned.

The Narc government introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) more than a decade ago but after a bright beginning and 1.5 million kids returning to school, its light and energy is fading. Free Secondary Education is a dream.

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Kids were promised milk and laptops but those were empty campaign pledges. So after failing in all these promises it looks like we are going to give the nation’s children condoms instead. What does that say about a government’s values, priorities and vision for its youth?

That is not to deny the reality of teens catching Aids nor the shocking feature that is children having children. Both scenarios are painful and shameful. But if the state has messed up public education for its children, how can it be trusted with the responsibility of teaching sex education as advocated by President Kenyatta?

Put another way, has anyone consulted parents about the issues of sex education, teenage Aids or condoms? Could the state honestly consider partnering with an organisation that advocates giving condoms to children without the prior knowledge or consent of their parents?

From afar, it would appear to be a wonderful time to be young with Kenya’s children ready to take advantage of modern technological and communication advances. However, the truth is that we are raising a generation of frustrated teens who for the most part are receiving poor quality education that will only prepare them to join the long line of unemployed youth.

In the raging competition for certificates we have omitted to teach our children the values of discipline, compassion, friendship, integrity and perseverance. The results are the aforementioned problems of HIV and teenage pregnancies.

Now we have a whole generation of young people fed on the myth of success, materialism and comfort but unprepared morally and mentally to deal with frustration and failure which appears to be the lot for most of them. We are sitting on a youth time bomb and all we have to offer them are condoms. The nation’s youth deserve better.

[email protected] @GabrielDolan1