Thursday, as part of World AIDS Day on December 1, all the students of Bagatelle high school were able to take advantage of numerous awareness workshops.
“We realized that the students had a lot of prejudices and misconceptions about this disease but more generally about STIs and STDs (sexually infections and diseases), underlined Sophie Lopez, professor of the ST2S sector and the one of the instigators of the project.
The project, still imprecise, was immediately accepted and validated by Mr. Pradines, principal of the school. “It is our duty to educate, and I immediately favor this kind of project. I have a policy of opening up the school to the world around us and of course we must talk about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases”, said said Mr. Pradines.
The day of December 1 was therefore logically ticked and the project was able to develop. “We integrated into the creation of this day the local association Accept (which supports LGBT communities, does prevention and welcomes people in need, sometimes denied by their families) from the start”, said Sophie Lopez.
More than just a day of raising awareness, sometimes monotonous, the idea of the small group of teachers was to make this event much more fun. “We have set up many workshops, detailed Ms. Lopez. There is a stand here in the hall, run by the association, and many workshops. involved in communicating about this day to other students.”
And the result is more than satisfying. Class hours have been standardized, on different slots for seconds, first and final, and despite the non-obligation, the vast majority of students respond.
“It concerns us all”
“It concerns all of us. It’s important to talk about it,” said Sandy, a senior student. “We are involved in the workshops, it’s more interesting,” added Lou, his comrade. “This day is a first for the establishment and we obviously hope to perpetuate it. We are happy with the progress and the support for the moment”, concluded Sophie Lopez.