Sexuality Education in Schools: The International Experience and Implications

This paper reviews the impact that school-based sexual-health education has had on reproductive health of young people internationally, and thus its implications for Nigeria. Nigeria is in the early stages of carrying out its new national policy on sexuality and reproductive health education. This paper seeks to contribute to the policy debate about how sexual education programmes in schools can help to improve the youths' reproductive health (YRH).

The paper begins with a briefing of the YRH challenge in Nigeria. It examines how sexuality education fits into efforts to improve YRH by exploring programme aims, policy and reviewing existing programmes. The effectiveness of sexuality education and implementation experiences are explored in an international context, and then discussed with respect to the Nigerian context.

The authors conclude that comprehensive sexuality education is effective in improving key YRH behaviours, particularly in delaying sexual initiation. In addition, despite the conservative nature and controversial content of sexuality education, the authors find that such school based programmes have proven successful in other conservative societies, spurred by engaging religious leaders, parents and teacher groups in the educational process. Finally, the authors conclude that it will be critical to provide adequate funding for training sexuality educators to ensure the long-term success of the programmes, paying particular attention to the fact that the curriculum will require local adaptation to account for the cultural, linguistic and religious diversity of a country such as Nigeria.