The Commissioner of the National Secretariat for Patriotism Corps (NSPC), Hellen Seku has warned students to avoid early involvement in fornication which will expose them to HIV/AIDS.
Commissioner Seku said recent reports show that more than 4000 youths contract HIV in every seven days adding that after acquiring the HIV infection at an early age, a learner’s future is automatically ruined.
The commissioner made the remarks while presiding over the pass out of 2,101 students who went through a four-day ideological patriotism training course held at Kasenyi Senior Secondary School in Mubende district.
According to the 2023 statistics by the UNAIDS, in Uganda, adults aged 15 and over living with HIV are 1,400,000, women aged 15 and over living with HIV are 910,000 whereas men aged 15 and over living with HIV are 520,000.
It is alleged that more men are hunting for young girls for sex thinking that they are free from HIV yet also the girls are attracted to the older men following their love for money and other materialistic goods.
Therefore, commissioner Seku advised the students to abstain from sex until the right time to get married and ensure that they stick to one marriage partner.
“Stick to your books and utilize the time you are in school. There is a right time for everything. Mixing books with love is automatically dangerous, more so at your tender age,” she warned.
During the training, students were taken through a number of theoretical studies including routine patriotism core values, career guidance, financial literacy and personal development, peace building, climate change and ways of environmental protection, among others.
Students were also introduced to basic military drills and self-defense skills as stipulated by the Constitution of Uganda.
Seku urged the students to practice the patriotism skills they have acquired and ensure that they pass them over to their other colleagues in their surroundings.
“Patriotism is one of the national strategic initiatives of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni whose intention was to inculcate good norms and values into the youth,” she said.
To the young patriots of Mubende district, Seku asked them to cherish the core values of patriotism all the time by making right decisions with the right information but most importantly, to keep good relationships with their parents as their first role models in the society.
The students were drawn from schools that include; Kasenyi s.s (663), St. Charles Lwanga s.s (114), Universal College School (114), Mubende Parents s.s (338), Mubende Army s.s (366), Mubende Light s.s (280), Comprehensive High School (72) and Butoloogo Seed School (96). In total, there were 1096 girls and 1005 boys.
According to John Ngirabakunzi, the regional coordinator of the Patriotism Corps in Mubende district, the training focused on instilling the core values of patriotism and carried out routine activities, career guidance, financial literacy and personal development.
Other areas of focus were; causes and ways of preventing gender based violence, crime prevention and peace building, climate change, HIV AIDS, among others.
Ngirabakunzi challenged the trainees to be disciplined and hardworking in order to excel in all their endeavors. He also urged them to show love to one another and avoid behaviors that could jeopardize their future.
Hope Grania Nakazibwe, the Mubende district Woman MP, expressed her gratitude to the trainers and patriots for their dedication to promoting the core values of Uganda.
Nakazibwe urged the patriots to adhere to the values they were taught in order to achieve a better state for the nation.
She revealed that the patriots were taught the ideology of the NRM government, which includes the four core principles of nationalism, Pan-Africanism, democracy, and socio-economic transformation.
She also encouraged the patriots to remain focused and to transform their mindsets for the betterment of their daily lives.
