Local-stakeholders’ engagement in the implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in selected public schools in Samfya District, Zambia.
- February 23, 2022
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: Education, IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue II, February 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Joseph Mwape1* & Ecloss Munsaka2
1Mukuba University, School of Education, Department of Education
2The University of Zambia, School of Education, Department of Educational Psychology, Sociology, and Special Education
*Corresponding author
This study examined the local-stakeholders’ involvement in the implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in selected public schools in Samfya district of Zambia. The study used a qualitative case study research design involving 27 participants who included parents, teachers and pupils. The sample was purposively selected from three public schools in the district. Data were collected using document analysis, lesson observations, semi-structured interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGD). Thematic analysis was used to analyse data.
The findings of the study showed that there were no local stakeholders directly involved in the implementation of CSE. However, some local stakeholders such as health workers, the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and some parents were reported to be involved in doing related activities aimed at preventing early marriages and teenage pregnancies in the community. The study further indicated that although some NGOs were involved in doing some activities to promote the prevention of teenage pregnancies, such activities were only targeting some pupils, especially those supported by such NGOs. The parents who were reported to be involved were also engaged by such NGOs, making their activities limited only to the pupils supported by such NGOs. Further, health workers’ activities were mainly reactive as opposed to being pro-active as they were only called upon when certain vices are noticed such as an increase in teenage pregnancies and/or Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) including HIV among pupils.
The conclusion of this study, therefore, is that there is little collaboration between public schools and local-stakeholders in the implementation of CSE. This has resulted in the lack of harmonization of activities carried out by public schools and other stakeholders although they all aim at achieving such health goals as reducing teenage pregnancies and transmission of STIs including HIV among pupils. This study therefore, recommends that public schools should sensitise the local stakeholders about CSE programmes and include them in its implementation through the multidisciplinary team approach to CSE implementation.
Key words: Comprehensive Sexuality Education, collaboration, teenage pregnancy, local-stakeholders, engagement, Non-Governmental Organisations, public schools,
Background
Teenage pregnancy has become a serious public issue of concern in Zambia as more and more school-going girls drop out of school as a result of teenage pregnancy (Munsaka, 2009; Svanemyr, 2019). According to Ministry of General Education (MOGE, 2015) about 47 percent of school-dropouts are due to teenage pregnancy. Further, the educational statistical bulletins over the years have reported increasing cases of teenage pregnancy among pupils. MOGE (2018) indicates that 13,640 and 15,029 cases of teenage pregnancy were recorded in 2017 and 2018 respectively. In addition, the Central Statistical Office, Ministry of Health, and Inner City Fund International (CSO, MOH, & ICF International, 2019), indicate that 29% of young women aged 15 to 19 are already mothers or pregnant with their first child, especially in rural areas where they are twice more likely to have begun childbearing than urban areas (37% versus 19%). Thus, the Ministry of General Education, as one way of trying to reduce the vice, introduced Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in public schools in 2014. This is because various studies have reported evidence of the effectiveness of CSE in terms of delayed initiation of sex, decreased frequency of sex, fewer sexual partners, and increased use of contraceptives including condoms (Kirby, 2007; Stanger-Hall & Hall, 2011). Despite the introduction of CSE in public schools, cases of teenage pregnancy among school-going girls keep increasing, especially in rural areas such as Samfya district (Mwape & Munsaka, 2020). This scenario begs the question on how CSE is being implemented, especially concerning the engagement of the local-stakeholders. This is because studies, such as those done by Chandra-Mouli, Plesons, Hadi, Baig and Lang (2018) and Svanemyr, Amin, Robles and Greene (2015), indicate that programme implementation succeeds where the local-stakeholders such as parents and local NGOs are involved. Silumbwe et al. (2020) also indicate that community’s and health personnel’s involvement in the implementation of health programmes such as CSE is cardinal for success.
