UNICEF hosts visit of Indonesian and East Timorese education officialsGroups Learning About Life Skills and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education for Youth Yangon, 28 January 2005 – Today concludes a one-week visit of education officials from Indonesia and East Timor who have visited Myanmar to learn about UNICEF-sponsored life skills education and HIV/AIDS prevention education programs for in-school and out-of-school youth. In Myanmar, the School-Based Healthy Living and HIV/AIDS Prevention Education (the ‘SHAPE’ program) was first introduced in 1998. Since that time, SHAPE has become part of the national education curriculum, and has been introduced in primary and secondary schools in over one-third of all townships nationwide, helping millions of children develop analytical thinking, problem solving, life and social skills that can enable them to more effectively contend with the everyday challenges they face. Today, thanks to funding from the Swiss National Committee for UNICEF, UNICEF and its partners in Myanmar are extending this education to out-of-school children and youth. UNICEF and the Department of Educational Planning and Training have co-hosted this visit of distinguished educators from the Indonesian and East Timor Ministries of Education and NGOs in those countries. The visit has enabled them to learn from Myanmar’s model of providing HIV/AIDS prevention and life skills education for youth, and integrating life skills education into the mainstream curriculum. During the course of the week, this group of educators had opportunities for professional exchange with education professionals from Myanmar. They visited primary schools in Thaketa, Shwepyitha, as well as programs for out-of-school youth in Kyimyindine.
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