Adolescents’ sexual, reproductive and mental health right is becoming a major issue in the modern world. Adolescent boys and girls in school are on the verge of losing the battle of education to teenage pregnancies, drug abuse, child marriage and mental illness as a result of peer pressure, retrogressive cultures, low knowledge on sexuality and lack of access adolescents’ friendly services.
Thitha Mixed secondary schools is one of the oldest schools in Meru County with a good performance record for decades. The school have experienced myriad of challenges in recent years with cases of teenage pregnancies, school dropout, students strikes and early marriages among the students. This made the school to reach out to CIFORD Kenya for a mentorship program on mental health to enlighten students on issues stress, depression and anxiety management. The talk which was held in 2022 May was considered a success with the school indicating that the data on such negative vices have dropped tremendously. ‘We really had a very serious challenge with the students last year before you engaged them, after the engagement we noticed some positive changes in terms of discipline and character, that is why we thought it would be wise if you engaged the students again this year and make it a continuous process in the years to come’ Mr. Maina, the principal.
Pict 1.1 session on mental health
In May 2023 (one year later) the school reached out to CIFORD Kenya for more vigorous mentorship talk with the school proposing for a general talk with the whole school population and then girls/boys separate engagement. The talk was a success with the school proposing for future talk to keep the students in school and continue with the tremendous reduction of negative vices that might contribute to school dropout in the school.
Pict 2.1 Boys session
Pic 2.2 General talk
Pic 2.3 Girls sessions in 2023
