A storm is slowly gathering in the education sector over the Reproductive Health Care Bill that seeks to make available to school-going children, condoms and other forms of contraception.
It must be recognised that adolescents get sexually active as early as age 10, particularly among girls. Our society should therefore appreciate that the often hyped narrative of abstinence as a form of protection from HIV and unwanted pregnancies has failed. Children learn of the existence of these contraceptives from peers and also from adverts that are all around them.
Where knowledge of contraceptives and reproductive health education is lacking especially in rural areas, there are high incidences of school drop-out occasioned by early pregnancies. This happens to children who are in upper primary school mainly as from class six. Secondary school children are more at risk especially those in day schools.
Why then can’t we say, to avoid insanity, we try a different game plan in order to expect different results? Allowing adolescents the right to sexual health education through legislation is the best way for a society that faces a myriad challenges mostly arising from social problems of unwanted pregnancies and high HIV/AIDS prevalence. The future becomes bleak when young girls without any income become pregnant and abandon education. The sight of many teenagers seeking antiretroviral drugs from health facilities in the country doesn’t help matters and only serves to make the future even more hopeless. These, coupled with the numerous risks of unsafe abortions are just the direct consequences of failure to address these concerns in an open manner.
Other social problems abound. And they trickle down to over-dependence and redirection of the scarce resources to meet unproductive demands leading to general poverty. When children are counseled and provided with information on sexual health including contraceptives option, they are better placed to make informed choices rather than when they are left to grapple in darkness on their own.
It is even better that the bill says parental consent is not mandatory in the provision of reproductive health services to adolescents. This is because most children would not be free to discuss sex issues with their parents because when they indulge in such activities, they do so secretly.
Contrary to perceptions created by educationists that the Bill will encourage immorality, it actually seeks to recognise it in quest of reducing its effects.
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