Ever wondered why there is a spike in the number of reported rape cases in Nigeria? Lack of self control is definitely one reason but inadequate education is a major cause.
Open conversations of sex education with ‘trusted’ adults have been under-provided for a very long time. This is also combined by the confusing, conflicting and insidious information given to children about sex and gender.
Ideally, the goal of sex education is to endow children as well as young people with the knowledge, skills and values to make conscientious choices about their sexual and social relationships. In order to ensure that their policies do not reinforce sexual violence, therefore, there is the need for all schools to include sex education in their curricula.
By providing a suitable and sustainable vehicle for the delivery of such education, schools are taking a step further to end rape culture. This provision also requires commitment on the part of school administrators to create room within an already crowded school curriculum, to ensure that suitable well-trained professionals are employed to handle such delicate subject.
Parents, schools and communities need to recognize the importance of sex education. Properly designed and executed sex education can provide youngsters with the awareness and skills they will need to steer adulthood. Through sex education, young people are exposed to topics like sexual abuse, its concept and what to do about it. Information on how to access support, if need arises is also learnt. Additionally, individuals can unlearn sexual shaming, victim-blaming through sex education.
Preventing sexual misconduct starts with the education that shifts the paradigms already established about sex, relationships and bodily autonomy. Exclusion of consent and sexual agency from our educational objectives has long-lasting and tragic implications.
Let’s not forget that we live in a time when abstinence, more often than not, is considered a form of weakness. So many people, especially youngsters, are in a hurry to ‘get laid’ without really understanding what they are getting into. Thus, it is important that whilst parents and teachers preach ‘abstinence till marriage’, they should not fail to have conversations pertaining to sex and consent with their children or students.
It is highly discouraged to wait till a child is all grown up before they are taught these important things; this is because sexual predators don’t care about age. The earlier the children know what is right from wrong, the higher their chances of not falling victim to rape.
It is important that youngsters are educated on the core pillars of consent; teachers and parents are equipped with the skills to appropriately respond to disclosures, and cultural shifts in the way sexual violence is viewed and responded to are created.
If more efforts are made to improve the quality of sex education in schools, there will most likely be less cases of rape or other sexual misconducts.
- Nwadinigwe Clara (ENG ‘19)