Growing up, the closest most of us came to learning anything that looked like sex education in school was reproductive system in biology class. It took that long, meaning we had to have been in secondary school before we fully understood anything about the human reproductive system and even then, it was all rigid, some words were kept away from us or said in ways that would make us laugh and not exactly give us understanding.
On the other hand, by that age, most of us had already known what sex was, either from friends or by any means whatsoever, we had heard about sex maybe even listened to untrue explanations and definition of how a lady became pregnant and we had many more unanswered questions in our hearts. The only thing we heard from school was “DON’T HAVE SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE, IT LEADS TO UNWANTED PREGNANCIES AND STD’s”.
The truth, however, is that is not enough. For 13-year-old boys and girls who are just understanding that there is a part of their lives that gives such pleasure but has to be delayed for a while, they require more than just a 45 minute class on the reproductive system or Sexually Transmitted Disease.
It is pertinent that school systems include Sex education in their curriculum and if possible, set aside a counsellor for students to see when they are having sex-related struggles. This is because, as much as the primary lessons of a child are learnt at home, children may feel more comfortable speaking to a trained professional than their parents.
In the long run, the school defines sex and it’s necessities for the Children before society does, thus giving children an educated view of sex.
If secondary schools continue to shy away from the responsibilities of sex education then students who are young children will continue to grow with a warped idea of sex.
When such a child, then grows up beyond the age when sex education makes any meaning, it will be of no use.
Words like “vagina”, “semen”,…. and even “sex” should not be hidden or bent to sound funny instead of passing across the original message.
There can be a gradual process of disseminating this knowledge based on the capacity of the student’s brain such that at the end of the 6 years in secondary school, a child will have understood all that sex education has to offer.