International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue XII, December 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
AITCHEDJI Magloire Fortuné Landry*, GADO Issaou, HOUESSOU Dossou Y. Patrick
Ecole Normale Supérieure de Natitingou, UNSTIM (Bénin), Faculté des Sciences de l’Education et de la Formation, UAC(Bénin)
*Corresponding Author
Abstract: In Benin, to support the promotion of sexual health education, the government has made the improvement of sexual and gender health conditions in schools one of its priorities. The introduction of technological tools, Internet access (ADSL/Wifi) and the growing importance of the use of digital social networks by many school children in Benin constitute a challenge for the entire educational community. In order to respond to the lack of digital educational materials to improve knowledge and change attitudes towards sexual health among adolescents and young people, we designed a digital tool, in the form of a sexual health education application, and then used it as educational materials in several high schools and colleges in Benin. After the experimental use of the application in the chosen school environment, a survey was conducted to study the attitudes of adolescent students towards this mode of learning. The results obtained show a general increase in learners’ interest in sexual health education through the device. Learning seems to have a more playful aspect that keeps learners engaged and maximizes accessibility to key concepts in sexual health education. However, further data collection from learners is needed before appropriate ways to integrate sex education can be deduced. The long-term impact of the application needs to be studied further in order to reach more formal and decisive conclusions.
Keywords: Learning Through Technology, attitudes, sexual health, mobile learning, adolescents and youth
I. INTRODUCTION
A lmost all young people in sub-Saharan Africa – including Benin – grow up without access to formal, personalized information about their sexuality, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and human rights, mainly because of taboos and stigmas created by cultures, traditions and religions. As a result, millions of these young people are more vulnerable than they need to be – vulnerable to Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), unplanned pregnancies, exposure to unsafe (unsafe) abortion, and/or forced or early marriage, HIV/AIDS, stigma and discrimination. There is a critical need to know about these important issues that could affect their health and life outcomes.
Increasingly, the phenomenon of pregnancy among secondary school girls is growing in Benin to the point where some school officials have called it an “epidemic”. As the subject of sexuality is already taboo in Beninese culture, it is hardly discussed in society (neither in the family nor at school, etc.)