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Separate family life education from ’condom education’
2006-01-19 08:51:07
By Editor
Once in a while the Fourth Estate (press) goofs in its presentation of information. Partly because of our poor understanding of the issues and partly because of scanty information available for our use, we create impressions that are at variance with reality.
A case in point is the debate on sex education in primary schools.
Since the debate on whether the Family Life Education, Reproductive Health Education or simply Sex Education should be introduced in primary school curriculum kicked off, the media has failed to facilitate it to enable the Church and the State strike common ground.
Left out of the debate are the potential beneficiaries – pupils and parents.
The failure of the media to appreciate the gravity of the issue lies with its inability to grasp the thrust of the argument on either side, resulting in the debate centring on condom education.
This is a gross distortion, the outcome of inability by us in the media to come to grips with spirit of the debate and present the issues to readers – our primary consumers – to make sound judgements.
Most of last week, a number of Kiswahili dailies consistently reported that the Church is opposed to elimu ya kondomu (condom education) the Ministry of Education plans to introduce in primary school this year.
In the reports, the government’s argument is that early pregnancies and rapid spread of HIV/Aids among primary school children are a major drawback to the gains being made in the sector.
Both the State and the Church make valid points in their arguments. While the State is uneasy with the collective physical and intellectual health of the nation, the same nation depends on religion for spiritual and moral fortitude and nourishment.
The Church’s position is that moral and spirit uprightness is the first step toward physical and intellectual soundness of society.
Here is a clear convergence of purpose; the point of dispersion is in how to execute the good intentions.
In a research carried out last year by the Ministry of Education, it was found that at least 34 per cent of primary school had engaged in sex.
A number of them too had contracted HIV/Aids in the process, which exerts strain on the health sector.
The Church on the other hand is concerned that bombarding children as young as six years with information on matters that were traditionally reserved for adults would exacerbate the problem.
Between these divergent points of view, journalists portrayed the protagonists as being engaged in a discourse over whether primary school children should be taught how to use condoms.
By the same stretch of argument, it must be understood that the State is not planning sex education for our children as it was reported last week!
Equally, the Church is not opposed to the measures the State wants to take to eliminate early pregnancies and increase completion rates in education, especially at primary level.
The Church is only concerned about the mode of transmission of the information to young and mostly innocent children.
As the moral and spiritual guardian of society, the Church is on record as having expressed concern over the extent of the moral decay of the present generation.
It has prescribed abstinence from premarital sex as a solution to unwanted pregnancies and HIV/Aids.
While that is true, it only goes as far as wishful thinking as it is not plausible because the reality is that the number of children exposed to early sex is rising rapidly.
This requires that they understand their sexuality from an early age.
The snag appears to be in the timing, content and mode of transmission of the proposed family life education.
And this to the cultural setting, there is a possibility that the proposed syllabus would come a cropper because most African families shy away from discussing it openly.
Against this backdrop of cultural inhibitions, and given the kind of training teachers in the country go through, it is almost predictable that culture will prevent them from teaching the subject. Should this be the case, the State’s efforts to stem the rising early pregnancies and HIV/Aids incidence in primary schools would come a cropper.
It is incumbent upon journalists, therefore, to approach the sensitive subject with a clear and open mind to facilitate informed discourse rather than make it obscure and based on half-baked information.
Condoms are just part of the solution and never the bigger picture in the debate.
When we err, it behoves us to correct the wrong impressions we create because we are not infallible.
Both the Church and the State are right and also wrong at the same time. We must tell the public so.
Only they can help the State and the Church out of the current stalemate.
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