Attorney Sharon Rowley’s suggestion that gender-based violence awareness be taught in primary schools has sparked a fresh discussion about the strategies that could be implemented to combat and reduce the scourge at least by 2030.

Rowley, wife of the Prime Minister, made the suggestion last Saturday at a forum titled GBV & ME: Insights and solutions from the youth in region, at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Blenheim, Tobago.

The event, hosted by the Indigenous Creative Arts Network (ICAN), was held in collaboration with the United Nations Spotlight Initiative. Rowley is the Spotlight Initiative’s local champion.

It featured contributions from gender-based violence activists from across TT as well as survivors and technocrats.

The forum came in the wake of the murders of four women two weeks ago. They were Stephanie Calbio, 34; Abeo Cudjoe, 31; Krishana Mohammed 24; and the most recent victim, Marva Sutherland, who was killed on May 12 at her Diego Martin home after a dispute with a man she knew.

Rowley’s suggestion has garnered support from stakeholders, some of whom have been championing the cause for decades.

Women and child rights activist Diana Mahabir-Wyatt said she has long advocated that gender-based violence awareness be taught in schools.

[caption id="attachment_955938" align="alignnone" width="736"] Women and child rights activist Diana Mahabir-Wyatt has long advocated for gender-based violence awareness be taught in schools. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]

She believes in light of its prevalence in the society, gender-based violence cannot be sugar-coated.

“A lot of the problems we have dealing with teenage sexuality, teenage pregnancy and the emotional and physical problems that people experience are because of their lack of awareness of even the physical aspects of their own bodies, much less those of other people. This should have been taught from primary school,” she told Sunday Newsday.

Head of the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights, Mahabir-Wyatt suggested gender-based violence awareness could be conveyed via age-appropriate curricula.

Using sexuality as an example, she said children would not necessarily be taught the mechanics of sexual intercourse but biological functions.

Mahabir-Wyatt said she learnt that in many schools, eight and nine year-olds already knew about sex.

“That is true not just in Trinidad but also throughout the world where children have access to the internet and television.”

Mahabir-Wyatt argued that eight and nine year-olds are naturally curious about their bodies and sex.

“It is not that children don’t know that it exists. They know that they come into the world as a result of it.”

She said while it is much better for families to talk to their children about sex, “parents who are influenced by certain institutions are afraid to talk about it.

“It is much better for children if they learn about sex from their families but a lot of them do not know how to handle it.”

Noted Tobago educator and national award recipient Dr Verleen Bo

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