The Department of Basic Education and its partners will on Sunday launch a ground-breaking television series called ‘Breaking the Silence’ at the SABC M1 Studios in Johannesburg.
Deputy President David Mabuza is expected to deliver the keynote address at the launch.
The department, together with UNESCO, the SABC and MTV Shuga, will unveil the series.
The programme is set to tackle a whole range of social challenges that affect the education of young people of school going age.
‘Breaking the Silence’ is a 13-part series which has been developed to strengthen the provision of comprehensive sexuality education by educators in the schooling system.
Social challenges such as gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, drugs and substance abuse are some of the matters to be dealt with in the television programme.
Research has cited these as some of the factors that result in learners dropping out of school.
The topics are already covered in the curriculum through Life Skills and Life Orientation subjects.
‘Breaking the Silence’ forms an important component in the broader range of activities undertaken by the DBE and its partners to continue to address the growing range of social challenges that have plagued the Basic Education sector and communities across the country.
The series is set to step up public communication around some of the uncomfortable topics relating to sexuality education. These include, but are not limited to:
– Integration of pregnancy prevention;
– Gender and sexual violence prevention;
– Alcohol and drug use prevention;
– Sex and Sexual Orientation;
– Transactional Sex;
– Rites of Passage;
– Sex & Diseases and
– Sexuality and Digital Media.
The Department of Basic Education has thanked the SABC for its commitment to an informed citizenry and for taking the bold step of broadcasting the series on SABC 1.
‘’This will assist greatly in advancing the work of the department by utilising the powerful medium of television broadcasting and social media to showcase complex components on delivery of comprehensive sexuality education in the curriculum,” said the Director for Social Cohesion and Equity in the DBE, Likho Bottoman.
In her address at a media briefing on 29 August, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the Department would mobilise stakeholders to work together to address the alarming rate of early and unwanted pregnancies among young people of school going age, in particular.
‘Breaking the Silence’ is one of a myriad of responses from the DBE and its partners to address the various challenges around Comprehensive Sexuality Education as well as GBV, while also creating a platform to support educators to act as agents in teaching Integration of pregnancy prevention, gender, alcohol and drug use prevention. – SAnews.gov.za
