- During the Covid-19 lockdown 160,000 teenagers aged 10-19 were either pregnant or married off, according to a report by a study.
- A 2017 research by Guttmacher Institute, shows that nationally more than a third of Kenyan teens between the ages of 15 and 19 have already had sex.
Learners under the Competency-Based Curriculum risk missing out on the critical element of sex education as they clock the volatile stage of adolescence.
At a time when the CBC is currently under implementation, the need for sex education cannot be underscored but very little has been included until now.
Currently, the pioneer class of the CBC are in Grade 5 and are between the ages of 10 to 12, clicking puberty.
The Star sought to establish the limitations to implementing sex education in Kenyan schools.
Kenya Parents Association chairman Nicholas Maiyo argues that as it is, the country lacks a proper framework to guide the required parental consent for students to receive sex education.
Maiyo notes that schools also lack proper material to provide age-based sex education thus making it difficult to teach learners about their bodies.
He says parent’s involvement in developing the appropriate sex education is overshadowed by cultural retrogressive beliefs.
“It is a taboo to speak about sex in most of our cultures and this has not been made easy by the lack of sensitisation by the government,” Maiyo said.
The effects of this, Maiyo says, were evident during the Covid-19 lockdown where 160,000 aged 10-19 were either pregnant or married off, according to a report by a study commissioned by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The report sought to find the effects of the nine months-long closure of learning institutions since the breakout of Covid-19 in the country in mid-March 2020.
Another study conducted in 2017, by research and policy organisation Guttmacher Institute, shows that nationally, more than a third of Kenyan teens between the ages of 15 and 19 have already had sex.
About one-fifth are currently sexually active. And while only four in 10 sexually active unmarried teenage girls use any modern method of contraception, the vast majority of them want to avoid pregnancy.
About one-fifth of them are already mothers, and more than half of these births were unplanned.
The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development director Charles Ong’ondo noted that there is support for sexuality education from the Kenyan government, but education-sector policies have largely promoted an abstinence-only approach.
However, the approach has resulted in a lack of comprehensiveness in the range of topics offered in secondary school curricula.
“There is strong support for teaching sexuality education among principals, teachers and students alike, but the topics that are integrated into compulsory and examinable subjects are limited in scope, and there is little incentive for teachers and students to prioritise them,” Ong’ondo said.
Elimu Yetu Coalition national coordinator Joseph Wasikhongo told the Star that some messages conveyed to students were reportedly fear-inducing and judgmental or focused on abstinence, emphasising that sex is dangerous and immoral for young people.
“When we hide in the cloud of morality, it will not help our children clicking adolescent, it is a dangerous path to assume that they are not engaging in sex when the data shows otherwise.
Students wanted more information on contraceptive methods—including how to use and where to access them—and requested more participatory teaching methods,” Wasikhongo told the Star on phone.
Wasikhongo further argues that religion has played a big part in limiting important sexuality literacy.
He says that the church has been on the forefront in limiting and influencing what was taught in schools.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Indimuli Kahi said teachers face significant challenges in the classroom, ranging from lack of time, materials or resources to perceived community opposition, their own discomfort, and lack of knowledge or training on the topics.
“The improvement, systematising and scaling up of teacher training are essential to ensure sexuality education is delivered accurately, appropriately and effectively,” he said.
Kahi said a comprehensive sexuality education needs to be scientifically accurate, age-appropriate, non-judgmental and gender-sensitive.
“The lessons should extend to prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, as well as contraception and unintended pregnancy,” he said.
-Edited by SKanyara