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By Batula Abdi-
Kenya has for the past couple of months witnessed numerous media reports of school-going adolescents boldly indulging in all manner of sexually egregious behaviour. One astounding thing about these media reports has been the general absence of discussion about how we got here, and how we can prevent this among our children and youth.
While the silence has been glaring, it is obvious that even before the media reports, something was amiss, and like a sweater with a loose strand, social mores among our children were unravelling fast, and the sweater can only fall to pieces.
Imagine, approximately 29,000 young people aged between 15-24 years get infected with HIV every year. Similarly, one out of five teenagers in Kenya are already pregnant. In urban slums seven out of every 10 girls below 20 years have had an unintended pregnancy. Consequently, 13,000 girls end up dropping out of school each year due to pregnancy related causes, while unsafe abortion has become the second largest cause of death among girls below 20 years.
This sad state of affairs can be largely attributed to the lack of comprehensive and correct information on sexuality among young people.
For how long will we stand and let our children learn about their sexuality from the streets, their peers, the internet, or on TV? If Kenya is to reverse the worrying trends then it is a high time we started helping our children understand their bodies and to know how to deal with the different challenging situations.
Such a conversation, delivered in the right detail, and according to the age of the child, is what is commonly referred to as “comprehensive sexuality education” (CSE) or Life Skills Education (LSE)
CSE/LSE teaches growth and development, relationships, decision making, and disease prevention that equip young people with knowledge, skills, and values to make responsible choices. It stresses the value of abstinence while also preparing young people for when they become sexually active. It is basically a structured process of character moulding that should be age appropriate, medically accurate and culturally sensitive.
Parents and care givers bear the greatest responsibility of providing CSE/LSE to their children. While this may prove to be a daunting task for a majority of parents, there are many daily experiences which provide teachable moments that parents can take advantage of. Think about those TV adverts that you quickly change whenever you are seated with your children because you think they are controversial? Think of those questions that children ask and you often carefully ignore for lack of a better answer to give?
The education system provides another perfect platform given that most young people spend a significant proportion of their early life in school.
It is encouraging that some churches and mosques in the country have already initiated such programmes, further affirming that sexuality education does indeed bring about behaviour change and does NOT lead to sexual activity. In fact, many studies have established that such education leads to delayed initiation of sex, further proving that “information is indeed power”.
As a woman, as a mother and as someone who loves my country, I believe we need a candid national conversation. How can we ensure that our children are empowered with the right information, so that they can make informed decisions?
Denying our children such life-saving information is not only bad parenting, but a violation of their human rights.
Let’s together enable our children to achieve their full human potential.
Ms. Batula Abdi is a Programmes specialist in charge of Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health at UNFPA.
e-mail: abdi@unfpa.org
Kenya has for the past couple of months witnessed numerous media reports of school-going adolescents boldly indulging in all manner of sexually egregious behaviour. One astounding thing about these media reports has been the general absence of discussion about how we got here, and how we can prevent this among our children and youth.
While the silence has been glaring, it is obvious that even before the media reports, something was amiss, and like a sweater with a loose strand, social mores among our children were unravelling fast, and the sweater can only fall to pieces.
Imagine, approximately 29,000 young people aged between 15-24 years get infected with HIV every year. Similarly, one out of five teenagers in Kenya are already pregnant. In urban slums seven out of every 10 girls below 20 years have had an unintended pregnancy. Consequently, 13,000 girls end up dropping out of school each year due to pregnancy related causes, while unsafe abortion has become the second largest cause of death among girls below 20 years.
This sad state of affairs can be largely attributed to the lack of comprehensive and correct information on sexuality among young people.
For how long will we stand and let our children learn about their sexuality from the streets, their peers, the internet, or on TV? If Kenya is to reverse the worrying trends then it is a high time we started helping our children understand their bodies and to know how to deal with the different challenging situations.
Such a conversation, delivered in the right detail, and according to the age of the child, is what is commonly referred to as “comprehensive sexuality education” (CSE) or Life Skills Education (LSE)
CSE/LSE teaches growth and development, relationships, decision making, and disease prevention that equip young people with knowledge, skills, and values to make responsible choices. It stresses the value of abstinence while also preparing young people for when they become sexually active. It is basically a structured process of character moulding that should be age appropriate, medically accurate and culturally sensitive.
Parents and care givers bear the greatest responsibility of providing CSE/LSE to their children. While this may prove to be a daunting task for a majority of parents, there are many daily experiences which provide teachable moments that parents can take advantage of. Think about those TV adverts that you quickly change whenever you are seated with your children because you think they are controversial? Think of those questions that children ask and you often carefully ignore for lack of a better answer to give?
The education system provides another perfect platform given that most young people spend a significant proportion of their early life in school.
It is encouraging that some churches and mosques in the country have already initiated such programmes, further affirming that sexuality education does indeed bring about behaviour change and does NOT lead to sexual activity. In fact, many studies have established that such education leads to delayed initiation of sex, further proving that “information is indeed power”.
As a woman, as a mother and as someone who loves my country, I believe we need a candid national conversation. How can we ensure that our children are empowered with the right information, so that they can make informed decisions?
Denying our children such life-saving information is not only bad parenting, but a violation of their human rights.
Let’s together enable our children to achieve their full human potential.
Ms. Batula Abdi is a Programmes specialist in charge of Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health at UNFPA.
e-mail: abdi@unfpa.org
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