Pope John’s seminary wins E/Region debate contest
Pope John’s Senior High School and Junior Seminary in Koforidua has won the Eastern Regional Inter-school debate competition.
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The school beat the Krobo Girls’ Senior High School (SHS), Odumase Krobo, in a keenly contested finals by 55 points to 53.
The debate was on the motion: ‘’It is extremely fundamental for every parent to teach sexual education to their children.’’
Krobo Girls’ spoke for the motion, while Pope John’s spoke against it.
The other participating schools were the Yilo Krobo Senior High Commercial, the Aburi Girls’ SHS, the Begoro SHS, the Christian Heritage SHS, the Kukurantumi, and the Mpraeso SHS.
They debated on the motion: “Adolescent health education has done more harm than good to the Ghanaian youth’’ in the first round, while the motion for the semi-finals, which involved the Yilo Krobo Senior High Commercial, the Krobo Girls’ on one hand, and Mpraeso SHS and Pope John’s, on another, was: “The easy access to social media has done more harm than good on promoting sexual and reproductive health.’’
National challenge
The competition, which was held in all regions, was organised by DKT International, an International non-governmental organisation.
Pope John’s will represent the Eastern Region in a national competition to be held in Kumasi on June 10, 2016.
The Field Operations Manager of DKT International, Madam Rosie Gbegnedji, said for the past two and a half years, ‘No Yawa’, a youth platform of the organisation, in partnership with the v-Marie Stopes International and the Graamen Foundation, both NGOs, had educated the youth in some schools and communities on sexual and reproductive health.
She explained that the organisation would wind up its activities in June this year and that it was for that reason the debate was organised to assess the impact of its activities on the youth over the years.
According to her, Eastern Region schools had performed very well in both content and debating skills.
“The Eastern Region has done very well in terms of content, use of language and debating skills, which are what we are looking for,” Madam Gbegnedji stated.
Advice
The Eastern Regional Representative of DKT International, Mr Felix Nuertey Kortey, advised the youth in the region to become peer advocates for adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
He also asked them to abstain from premarital sex and rather concentrate on their studies to become responsible citizens.
