I remember those awkward moments when my family and I are watching Nollywood movies and suddenly a sex scene pop up on tv. Every discussion seizes and total silence is observed as if in memory of a dead relative while the elderly persons scrambles to find the remote. This is a common phenomenon in most African homes. Parents change channels or send their children away whenever a sex scene comes up on TV or seem to be coming up soon.
After so many years I came to understand that the silence as mentioned earlier, was in memory of the departed soul of Sex Education. Africans know nothing about sex education and just the word sex, even some parents can’t say it to their children. Sex in some homes is a forbiden word.
As a test, if I ask you to define sex Education I bet you won’t be able to define it but don’t be scared I will do it for you. Sex education is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual reproduction, age of consent, safe sex, birth control and sexual abstinence.
Sex is a natural part of life that happens with or without education.
This topic which in most cases is left untouched by a majority of parents and school institutions in Africa is very important. The reasons for it not being taught in schools or discussed at homes are raised that the:
• parents look at it to be a taboo talking about sex to their children,
• some also say talking about sex to their children will encourage them to go into sexual activities,
• both teachers and parents say they are just shy of the discussion topic.
That is why like my parents, they won’t want to watch a sex scene on TV with the children around. (Just to Point this out, I’m not saying it is good to watch sex scenes with children)
For this reason, children just like I did, sneak in their absence and watch the movies and thus learning the dark side of what they were supposed to have learned from their parente.
In every educational institution, Mathematics is a compulsory subject because we need maths in our day-to-day lifes but sex education have not been incorporated into school programs which is also as important as the mathematics itself .
This is either because the authorities that be are ignorant of or neglect the importance of sex education in the community.
In Cameroon where I’m from, there is a lil bit of sex education in Religious studies which is taught as a topic but not regard as a subject of importance when Most exams are launched. One would often hear of 2 or 4 subjects excluding Religious studies. As a result, they don’t come up with programs Which would aid in the training of sex educators.
With the parents and teachers absent in the education of the teenagers about their body, sex, time and rights, this leads to the wide spread of STDs and an exponential rise in the number of teen pregnancies.
Parents should not allow the generational differences which they have with their children to stand in the way of them building the future of their children. It’s said “prevention is better than cure”
You may also like:
•Africa In Dying Need Of Sex Education
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The Overthinker's Opinion 