The project for Human Development (PHD) is a not-for-profit, trans-cultural, trans-religious, trans-political, pro-life Non Governmental Organization (NGO). It promotes fundamental values in society, and endeavors to sustain authentic human development by contributing to the molding of public opinion on family values, dignity of the human person, especially women and children through research, education and advocacy.
PHD’s greatest impact has been felt in the fields of HIV/AIDS & prevention education, where it has successfully challenged the concept of the so-called “safe sex” and enthroned the value of abstinence from sex until marriage and fidelity in marriage to an uninfected spouse as the most effective means of preventing the genital spread of HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
The primary targets of PHD are teenagers in secondary institutions. These categories of youths are still at their prime formative age and we believe that the virtue of chastity will be easier for them to imbibe. With respect to this, PHD runs chastity clubs in secondary schools called The PHD Schools Club of Excellence.
The club meetings give these young ones the avenue to express the challenges they are facing through peer pressure, in their families etc. The PHD Schools Club of Excellence has been established in about 70% of the Secondary Schools in Lagos State right after the inception of the NGO. With time, we hope to establish School clubs in other states. The aim of this is to make sure we catch them young, imbibe good moral standards in these young people that will serve as life guiding principles. Also at the PHD Schools Club of Excellence, the students are engaged in different activities like; debate and quiz competition, essay writing competition, skills acquisition, excursions and other activities that help in one’s general human development
It is quite unfortunate that some pro choice NGOs go to these same schools to teach them the so called Comprehensive Sexuality Education. The so-called comprehensive sexuality education taught in different schools for both the junior and senior secondary students is quite alarming as they teach different immoralities such as the techniques of masturbation, dating, putting on condoms, sexual communications and negotiations, how to do abortion in secret, how to practice “safe sex” in secret without getting pregnant by using contraceptive like IUP, vaginal foams and jellies, diaphragm hormonal implants, oral contraceptive pills, touching and examination of male and female reproductive organ, naked body images, erection, ejaculation, kissing, caressing, sterilization procedure for male by making incision in scrotum and by cutting and tying the vas deferens, sterilization procedure for female by cutting and tying the fallopian tube, infertility or any other similar immoral topics as contained in the textbook.
This kind of exposure will leave these young ones with no choice but to be promiscuous. At several instances, these educators come into the secondary schools’ classrooms with a rubber penis and a rubber virgin to demonstrate to the students on how to put on the condoms and enjoy sex without getting pregnant and without anyone knowing about it. You can not advice a young person on the proper use of condom and expect that he or she does not put it into practice.
The alarming statistics about teen sexual activity in our society today is something else. Among high school students, 54 percent (including 61 percent of boys and 48 percent of girls) say they have had sexual intercourse according to survey conducted in that school. Do not have sex, but here is a way to do it fairly safely” amounts to a green light for sexual activity. The problem is that the comprehensive sexuality education is presented as the safest contraceptive option, but “protected sex” is offered as a “responsible” second option. The emphasis is on “making your win decision” rather than on making the right decision. An abstinence message is further weakened when schools provide condom instruction and/or distribute condoms. Teachers providing condom instruction will commonly demonstrate how to fit a condom to a model (or students may be asked to put a condom on a banana). In the same non-judgmental atmosphere, discussion often includes the pros and cons of different lubricants, special precautions for oral and anal sex, and so on. Some schools take what seems like the next logical step of actually distributing condoms to students. Both actions signal approval of “protected sex” and further undermine abstinence message.
These sexuality educators often cite AIDS as the main justification for “safe sex” education, but research shows that condoms do not provide adequate protection against AIDS (and, especially among teens, may generate a false sense of security). Condoms do not make sex physically safe. For all age groups, condoms have a 10 percent annual failure rate in preventing pregnancy; for teens (notoriously poor users), the figure can go as far as high as 36 percent. By one estimate, a 14 year old girl who relies on condoms has more than 50percent chance of becoming pregnant before she graduates from high school. Condoms do not prevent Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) either. This is because condoms have invisible holes that are 0.1 micron in diameter, while the holes in HIV are 0.5 micron in diameter.
While AIDS is still relatively infrequent among teens, other STIs are epidemic. Many of these diseases and 80 percent of the time, there are no visible symptoms- can be transmitted by areas of the body that are not covered by contraceptive barriers. Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), once very rare, is perhaps the most common STD among teens, infecting 38percent of sexually active females aged 13-21. Victims may suffer from venereal warts, painful intercourse, or genital cancer. The virus can also cause cancer of the penis. Condoms provide no protection against virus. Chlamydia affects up to 40 percent of sexually active singles; teenage girls are most susceptible. In men, chlamydia can cause infertile sperm; in women, pelvic inflammatory diseases and infection of the fallopian tubes. A single infection in a woman produces a 25 percent chance of infertility; a second infection, a 50 percent chance. Medical research has found that condoms do not significantly reduce the frequency of tubal infection and infertility stemming from this disease. Given, teenagers’ vulnerability to pregnancy despite the use of condoms and the fact that condoms provide inadequate protection against AIDS and no protection against many STDS. It is irresponsible to promote the myth that condoms make sex physically safe.
It does not give unmarried young people compelling ethical reasons to abstain from sexual intercourse until they are ready to commit themselves to another person. Instead students learn that they are being responsible if they use contraception. It does not help students develop the crucial character of quality self-control- the capacity to curb one’s desire and delay gratification. To the extent that sex education, is in any way permissive towards teenage sexual activity, it fosters poor character and feeds into the societal problem of sex-out-of-control. It does not cultivate what young people desperately need if they are to postpone sex; a vision of the solemn, binding commitment between two people in which sex is potentially most meaningful, responsible, and safe (physically and emotionally)- namely, marriage.
By any ethical, educational, or public health measure, the so-called Comprehensive Sexuality Education has been a failure. As a result, Pro-life NGOs like the Project for Human Development (PHD) through the PHD School Club of Excellence is constantly trying in imbibing in the lives of these young ones the virtue of staying abstinent from sex until marriage, the practice of fidelity in marriage and promoting core ethical values as the basis of good character.
A most perfect approach to educating young people in this aspect means helping young persons for the sake of their safety, happiness, and character to see the logic of an “Abstinence, No Buts” standard, often called the “Chastity Education”. This standard says three things;
- Sexual abstinence is the only medically safe and morally responsible choice for unmarried teenagers.
- Condoms do not make pre-marital sex responsible because they do not make it physically safe, emotionally safe, or ethically loving.
- The only true safe sex is having sex with a marriage partner who is having sex only with you. If you avoid intercourse until marriage, you will have much greater chance of remaining healthy and being able to have children.
If we love and respect another, we want what is in the person’s best interest. Does sex without commitment meet the criterion? Can we say that we really love someone if we gamble with the person’s physical health, emotional happiness, and future life, given the current epidemic of STDs, it is possible to argue on medical grounds alone that truly premarital sexual abstinence is the only ethical choice that truly respects self and other
Being that the homes are the first schools for children, it is best they have a proper sexuality education in their homes. Parents should educate their children on what sex is all about, when they should engage in it (inside marriage) with one’s partner only (fidelity in marriage). Adequate knowledge of the many negative effects of pre-marital sex and other immoral actions. I believe if a child is properly informed on all these at home, the immoral sexuality education he or she will be exposed at school will not be able to make any impact on such child. Young people require honest, open and informed communication so as to not fall into temptation and thereby put their lives at risk of teenage pregnancy, abortion, STIs and even death. Chastity education has succeeded where the comprehensive sexuality have failed; it promises self-control and the application of core ethical values.
Therefore, we try our maximum best to use the PHD Schools club of Excellence in secondary schools to curb the effects of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education and other vices these teenagers are exposed to in the society today