Viet Nam Human Rights
New research busts the myths about comprehensive sexuality education
13/6/19
Comprehensive sexuality education is an essential part of a good quality education that improves reproductive health and contributes to gender equality, argues Facing the Facts, a new policy paper by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report at UNESCO that seeks to dispel social and political resistance to sexuality education in many countries.
Globally, each year, 15 million girls marry before the age of 18, some 16 million 15-19 year olds and one million girls under 15 give birth. Young people moreover account for a third of new HIV infections among adults and across 37 low and middle-income countries, yet only approximately one third of people aged 15-24 years have comprehensive knowledge of HIV prevention and transmission.
“It’s time to face the facts,” argues Director of the GEM Report, Manos Antoninis, “More than one in ten births are among girls between 15 and 19 years old. This not only spells the end of their education, but is often fatal, with pregnancy and childbirth the leading cause of death among this age group.”
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| Photo for illustration. |
The new policy paper presents the evidence of the benefits of age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education. Even children at the age of five need to understand basic facts about their body, think about family and social relationships and recognize inappropriate behaviour and identify abuse.
Otherwise, many will grow up with inaccurate beliefs, like roughly half the girls in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who believe menstruation to be a disease and 82% of girls in Malawi, who know nothing about menstruation before experiencing it themselves.
Children and young people should receive comprehensive sexuality education before they become sexually active. This helps them protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and promotes values of tolerance, mutual respect and non-violence in relationships.
Nevertheless, vocal resistance to comprehensive sexuality education by some groups in a number of countries has been rising. In Uganda, a public backlash led the Ministry of Education to withdraw the national sexuality education curriculum, which was subsequently revised.
Antoninis continued: “Comprehensive sexuality education is part and parcel of a good quality education, the achievement of good health outcomes and progress towards gender equality. Yet in many parts of the world, opposition to comprehensive sexuality education has not only halted progress in sexual and reproductive health and rights, but reversed it.”
Introducing comprehensive sexuality education in the curriculum is insufficient without adequate teacher training to bolster instructors’ motivation and confidence in addressing the full range of topics concerned. Namibia has tackled this by creating scripted lesson plans for teachers, while Tanzania has created online resources that teachers can turn to when in doubt.
The paper has six key recommendations for countries including: Invest in teacher education and support; Make curricula relevant and evidence based; Develop monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and ensure implementation; Work with other sectors to bring about real change, notably with the health sector to link schools with health services and leverage funds; Engage with community and parent organizations to overcome resistance that is not based on facts.
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All comments [ 20 ]
Sex education helps people gain the information, skills and motivation to make healthy decisions about sex and sexuality.
Sex education is high quality teaching and learning about a broad variety of topics related to sex and sexuality, exploring values and beliefs about those topics and gaining the skills that are needed to navigate relationships and manage one’s own sexual health.
Sex education may take place in schools, in community settings, or online. Planned Parenthood believes that parents play a critical and central role in providing sex education
Planned Parenthood education staff reach 1.5 million individuals each year, and 64% of those individuals are middle school and high school aged youth.
The best sex education resource is your local Planned Parenthood education department!
Advocates for Youth partners with youth leaders, adult allies, and youth-serving organizations to advocate for policies and champion programs that recognize young people’s rights to honest sexual health information and accessible, confidential, and affordable sexual health services.
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) plays a central role in the preparation of young people for a safe, productive, fulfilling life in a world where HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancies, gender-based violence (GBV) and gender inequality still pose serious risks to their well-being.
despite clear and compelling evidence for the benefits of high-quality, curriculum-based CSE, few children and young people receive preparation for their lives that empowers them to take control and make informed decisions about their sexuality and relationships freely and responsibly.
Countries are increasingly acknowledging the importance of equipping young people with the knowledge and skills to make responsible choices in their lives, particularly in a context where they have greater exposure to sexually explicit material through the Internet and other media.
Every young person will one day have life-changing decisions to make about their sexual and reproductive health.
the majority of adolescents lack the knowledge required to make those decisions responsibly, leaving them vulnerable to coercion, sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.
Comprehensive sexuality education enables young people to protect their health, well-being and dignity.
And because these programmes are based on human rights principles, they advance gender equality and the rights and empowerment of young people.
Comprehensive sexuality education is a rights-based and gender-focused approach to sexuality education, whether in school or out of school.
This education includes discussions about family life, relationships, culture and gender roles, and also addresses human rights, gender equality, and threats such as discrimination and sexual abuse.
Taken together, these programmes help young people develop self-esteem and life skills that encourage critical thinking, clear communication, responsible decision-making and respectful behaviour.
The sexual and reproductive choices of young people can have a cascading effect on their human rights
Adolescent pregnancy, for example, can lead girls to drop out of school, which deprives them of their right to education. Poor understanding of gender equality can lead to discrimination.
The importance of sexuality education has been recognized by numerous international agreements.
There has been great progress in making comprehensive sexuality education available around the world.
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