Provide sexuality education to children and adolescents

A few months ago, female students were filmed through the windows of a certain school bus dancing in provocative ways described as twerking and lap dancing with their male counterparts. The video became viral and sparked off a lot of debate on various social platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter among many others.

Majority of the people in the public more especially parents were not happy at all on watching such a video. In-fact, on one of the ladies’ parent groups where I am, this video caused a lot of chaos and hot debate. The hot debate led us to the issue of sexuality education given to children and adolescents.

One of the parents said, “I think it’s high time for the line ministries of Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and Sports owned up the very garbage they have fed the country on for so long, that is promoting Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Sexual and Reproductive and Health Rights”. The parent added “Dear good people, through these programs, our children are being steered to the direction of contraception, abortion, homosexuality or as put by them LGBTQI”.  

Another parent added, “These are rotten fruits of the sneaked Comprehensive Sexuality Education framework in some schools, the only fruits that can indeed be obtained from such a framework that moots for sexual rights, abortion, contraception and homosexuality rather than chastity or behavioral change!” 

As a midwife and Women’s’ Health specialist and as an advocate of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and adolescent health, such statements shared hit me so hard, and I was indeed concerned. First, I wondered if parents really understand what sexuality education in totality is all about since majority of them based their arguments on majorly the contraceptive use by adolescents and abortions. 

Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) aka sex education is an instruction method based on-curriculum which aims at giving students the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values to be able to make appropriate and healthy choices in their sexual lives. The National Sexuality Education framework for Uganda that was launched in 2018 focuses on these key themes and topics;

1. Sexuality and Human Development (knowing oneself, male and female reproductive anatomy and physiology, puberty, human reproduction and body image and sexuality)
2. Sexuality and Relationship (types of love versus lust, dating and courtship, preparing for long term relationship, good versus bad relationship and marriage and family)
3. Sexuality and Sexual Behavior (sexual abstinence and faithfulness, gender-based violence and sexual abuse, deviant sexual behaviors)
4. Sexuality and Sexual Health (menstrual health and hygiene, prevention of pregnancy, importance of antenatal and postnatal care, abortion and risks associated with it, STIs, care and support of people suffering from HIV/AIDS and non-communicable diseases (obesity, hypertension, diabetes) and sexuality)

The most widely agreed benefit of using CSE over abstinence-only sex education is that CSE acknowledges that the student population will be sexually active in the future. And by acknowledging this, CSE can encourage students to plan-ahead in-order to make the healthiest possible sexual decisions. In-fact, this ideology of arming students to survive their future sexual experiences underlies the majority of topics, most successfully within CSE, including various methods of contraception and refusal skills.

I, therefore, encourage the government of Uganda through the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and sports, and related NGOs to add more efforts in sensitizing and empowering the community most especially parents, children, and adolescents about sexuality education, and also clarify their myths and negative perceptions about provision of sexuality education for the children and adolescents. 

The author is Lilian Nuwabaine Luyima; a BSc Nurse & MSN-Midwife & Women’s’ Health Specialist working with Aga Khan University