By: Audrey Raymonda John
The National Youth Commission (NAYCOM) in partnership with Pink Power, National Literary Debate Association and the Anti-Violence Movement has on Friday 8th December organized an inter secondary school debating competition for secondary school pupils at the St. Edwards Secondary school hall, Kingtom, Freetown on the topic: HIV/AIDS, Drugs and Crime.
Schools that participated are Freetown Secondary School (FSSG), Albert Academy, Saint Edwards Secondary School, Methods Boys High School, and Saint Joseph Covent.
In his keynote address, the Commissioner, National Youth Commission (NAYCOM), Ahmed Atata Mansaray Esq. stated that the inter secondary school debating competition was organized in order to shed lights on the hazards of STDs, drugs and crime among young people in Sierra Leone, adding that the topics chosen were deliberate.
He commended the other partners for joining with his Commissioner in ensuring that President Bio’s human capital development drive is actualized.
He went on to state that the commission intends catching the students at a much younger age so that they can serve as ambassadors of change especially when it comes to drug in take among youths, citing the prevalence and hazards of ush in the country.
He concluded that since his appointment by President Bio, he has visited numerous ghettos, slums and hoods to sound their wants and aspirations, noting that he has been able to map out the needs of those youths.
He reiterated the commission’s commitment to continue working with partners present.
Amara Lennie, a senior adviser at the National HIV/ AIDS Secretariat noted that the first HIV case in Sierra Leone was recorded in 1987, adding that according to their recent data, for every one hundred people, two people are infected with the disease.
He mentioned that 11.8% of commercial sex worker are infested with the HIV virus which is very sickening, 3.4% among the gay population, and 5.2% among drug addicts. He therefore admonished young people to abstain from unprotected sex.
According to a representative from Goal SL, drug use at high school causes disorder especially mentally, and increases crime rates.
A representative from National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Ibrahim S Dugba, stressed that drug intake has contributed to a lot of mental health cases and addiction challenges in the country. He urged students present to desist from taking drugs no matter what as it might destroy their academic performance and eventually led them to drop out and be having unprotected sex.
The participating schools were: Albert Academy, the Methodist Boys High School, Methodist Girls High School, the St. Joseph School for Girls and the Freetown Secondary school for Girls. The ceremony ended with an awarding ceremony wherein the winner takes home NLe. 2,500, and the second school, NLe. 2,000. Certificates were also awarded to the debaters.
The Albert Academy Secondary school emerged as the winner, with Rashid Jalloh and Gibril Turay from the Albert Academy as the best debaters.
Two thousand five hundred Leones was given to the best school debater, and the others schools also received cash prizes for second and third.
Certificate were also distributed to the participating schools.