By Steven Kubhoka
The debate on whether or not to give contraceptives to school-going children to cushion them against rampant and carefree sexual exploits is neither here nor there.
As the debate rages on, it is emerging that there is need for the children to be integrated and given a comprehensive sexuality education that will make them be part of the solution rather than being seen as adults coming together against the young to control their sexuality.
According to Dr Felix Kioli, Maseno University’s dean in the School of Arts and Social Sciences, parents, grandparents, and siblings have abdicated their roles due to location, language incompatibilities, generational gap and confusion caused by peer pressure and mass media.
The Akamba adolescents in Machakos, as per the researcher paper, demonstrated high level of ignorance on sexuality matters apart from the use of condoms, which was reported to be minimal.
“Integrated sexuality education as well as comprehensive sexuality knowledge that includes moral, religious and holistic aspect of sexuality is a necessity,” Kioli quips.
The paper by the Maseno scholar was part of a study funded by the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa. It targeted schoolgoing adolescents in age category of 12 – 19 years.
It emerged that the mass media was the predominant source of sexuality message comprising 38.7 percent and peers accounting for 22.5 percent. Family members and schools accounted for 18.2 percent and 11.2 percent respectively while the church had a minimal of 9.2 percent.
The paper notes that family and parental supervision, guidance and counseling on sexual matters have become quite insignificant, while the society has to contend with the entrance of ignorant peers who mislead each other on sexuality matters.
Kioli presented the paper, titled ‘Fallacious sexuality knowledge and its implications among the Akamba adolescents, Machakos County’, at the Maseno University inaugural annual interdisciplinary research conference at Kisumu Hotel.
The theme of the conference was ‘Promoting Knowledge-Based Economy through Sustainable Development in the 21st Century’.
A report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 2013, rates East Africa second globally after West Africa as the region with the highest number of women reporting a birth before the age of 18.