University students seek comprehensive sexuality education

EDUCATION | SEXUALITY EDUCATION 

University students have asked the Ministry of Education to include Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) on the curriculum saying many students face sexuality related challenges due to lack of knowledge about it.

Former Makerere University vice guild president, Judith Nalukwago, argues that CSE in all institutions of higher learning will provide students with an understanding of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in the broader context.

"Many students lack knowledge on sexuality and I believe CSE will equip them with the knowledge and life skills they need to make informed decisions on when and how to engage in sex safely," Nalukwago said.

The students made the call at the Inter-University dialogue on sexuality education held at Makerere University department of food and science Wenesday (November 25, 2020).

Due to COVID-19 Pandemic, this year's event was celebrated in a ‘scientific' manner with majority of the participants contributing via zoom technology.

It was celebrated under the theme: ‘COVID-19 and sexual reproductive health and rights in higher learning institutions navigating uncertainties.'

Inter-University dialogue on sexuality national coordinator, Robert Ocaya, explained that the dialogue is meant to sensitise students on their sexual reproductive health and rights.

"Many students face a lot of challenges pertaining sexual reproductive health because they lack knowledge about it and we want to change this narrative," Ocaya noted.

Makerere University lecturer, Dr Peace Musiimenta, backed the proposal saying students have the right to comprehensive information about their sexual and reproductive health.

Musiimenta also advocated for combined efforts between parents, teachers and students to ably deal with sexual reproductive health in a bid to prevent future cases of unplanned pregnancies in learning institutions. 

Giving a key note address at the event, clinical services manager at Reproductive Health Uganda (RHU), Dr Kenneth Buyinza, applauded Inter-University dialogue on sexuality, noting that many young people in higher institutions of learning encounter numerous challenges in relation to their sexual and reproductive health and rights.




"To over half of the students, the transition would actually be an induction into real adult life, a borderless social life, characterised with first time and non-restrictive sexual relationships which lends some to the traps of disease, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, associated complications and in some cases total failure to realise their academic objectives as some drop-out of schools," Ocaya said.

Ocaya however bemoaned limited access to information on sexual and reproductive health.

"It is heart-rending that that sexual and reproductive health is still taken luxury in most Uganda's tertiary institutions and universities as many young people especially adolescent girls continues to suffer preventive illness, injuries and sometimes death as a consequence of their sexuality," Ocaya noted.

Ocaya also bemoaned limited acess to sexual reproductive and health rights services and commodities that he says would confer protection and hence a safe sexual life.

Studies estimate that of the four adolescent girls in the country have already entered motherhood, making Uganda's teenage pregnancy rate one of the highest in the continent.

Ocaya noted that although the government has made tremendous efforts to put in place several policy provisions in a bid to address young people's health needs such as the national

framework on sexuality education, many of them remain unachieved as most of them are unfunded while others have been non-operational for years.

"COVID-19 crisis particularly the resulting nationwide lockdown and its ramifications on the sexual reproductive health and rights of young people have not only exposed systemic challenges and gaps in sexual reproductive health and rights service delivery but also underscored the urgent need for effective and inclusive adolescent and youth empowerment policies and programs," Ocaya noted.

Ocaya warns that without a proper and inclusive sexual reproductive health and rights support mechanism, young people could become more unsafe and vulnerable in the backyards of their homes and in the hands of their parents and guardians.

"Achievement of the vision 2040 and other development plans cannot happen without deliberately investing in inclusive programs that empower young people to take full control over their lives and make safe choices about their sexual reproductive health and rights," Ocaya said.

Director in charge basic secondary education said the government welcomes all efforts aimed at fighting sexual related challenges encountered by the young people.