Sexuality Education in Schools: The International Experience and Implications for Nigeria

This publication discusses the reproductive health challenges Nigerian youth face which are similar to those of young people in many other African countries: high rates of teen pregnancy, high and rising rates of HIV infection, early marriage for young girls, malnutrition, and harmful traditional practices such as female genital cutting.

This paper reviews the international experience and its implicationsfor Nigeria. The main findings are as follows:

• Comprehensive sexuality education is effective in improving key youth reproductive health (YRH) behaviors.
• Virtually everywhere, sexuality education is controversial and difficult to carry out on a national scale, especially while trying to maintain the quality of that education.
• Despite these problems, even conservative countries have made headway in incorporating high quality sexuality education in the schools.
• Programmes, to be effective, must "do it right." It will be important to implement a sound curriculum and adequately train and support teachers and students.
• The challenges to implementation vary from country to country and even within countries. Local adaptation - to culture, language, religion, and so forth - is often necessary.

This paper summarises the international experience in carrying out school-based sexuality education programs and the applicability of this experience to Nigeria. It was originally commissioned to provide input for the National Stakeholders Meeting on Adolescent Sexuality and Reproductive Health Education, held in Abuja, Nigeria, in September 2003. The authors incorporated feedback and results from that meeting to revise and update the report. Our hope is for the paper to support the efforts of Nigerians to implement the country's new policy on sexuality and reproductive health education.

Click here to download the document in PDF format.