MPs Advocate for Sex Education Subject in Schools
MPs want sex education to be taught as a subject in schools to help adolescents comprehend the associated risks.
High rates of unintended pregnancies, HIV/AIDS infections, and other sexually transmitted diseases have incensed legislators, who have urged the state to implement sex education in schools as a means of addressing this issue, which poses a significant threat to adolescents.
Representative Njeri Maina of Kirinyaga County proposed the motion and urged the federal government, acting through the State Department of Basic Education, to include thorough health, wellness, and sex education as core subjects.
Some legislators are skeptical about the need for comprehensive health education because they believe that by teaching sex education in schools, the country could be exposing young people to sex at an early age.
Phelix Odiwuor, a Langata representative, expressed support for the initiative but questioned what “comprehensive” entails and what additional facets it addresses.
In 2021, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) rejected calls to implement comprehensive sexuality education in Kenyan institutions.
Civil rights organizations had pushed for HIV and other STI prevention, contraception, and unintended pregnancy education in schools.
However, the Senior Deputy Director in Charge of Curriculum and Research Services, Jacqueline Onyango, ruled out such a possibility, stating that such practices would constitute a violation of a child’s constitutional rights under Kenyan law.
KICD said students in primary and secondary schools are juveniles, so information about contraceptives would be inappropriate because they lack the constitutional capacity to make their own decisions regarding sexual consent.
“These are children between the ages of 10 and 17, and according to the Kenyan constitution, such information is inappropriate,” said KICD.
KICD asserted that it has made efforts to incorporate Kenya-specific sex education into the current subjects taught in Kenyan primary and secondary institutions.
“Sex education is actually incorporated into our education system; for instance, in the early years, we teach them about the parts of their bodies; in upper primary, we teach them about reproductive health; and as they progress, the lessons become more complex,” said Onyango.
According to a study commissioned by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, over 160,000 young women between the ages of 10 and 19 became pregnant or married during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The report attempted to determine the effects of the nine-month closure of educational institutions since the outbreak of COVID-19 in mid-March 2020.
More than one-third of Kenyan adolescents aged 15 to 19 have already engaged in sexual activity, according to a 2017 study by the research and policy organization Guttmacher Institute.
Approximately one-fifth are sexually active. Even though only four out of ten sexually active, unmarried adolescent females use modern contraception, the vast majority of them desire to avoid pregnancy.
MPs Advocate for Sex Education Subject in Schools
