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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
Health Buzz
Young people are the backbone of Zimbabwe, making up over 60 percent of the population.
However, there are many challenges that prevent them from reaching their full potential.
A National Adolescent Pregnancy study released last year revealed a concerning trend.
Around 21 percent of pregnancies reported between 2019 to 2022 involved girls aged 10 to 19.
This translates to a staggering 350 000 young girls becoming pregnant within just three years.
This issue can be linked to Zimbabwe’s high maternal mortality rate, where young mothers are disproportionately affected.
Teenage pregnancy exposes girls to a multitude of risks, including sexual and gender-based violence, HIV/AIDS and other STIs, drug abuse, and school dropout.
While the statistics are worrying, there is a silver lining after all.
Experts believe education is the key to tackling such challenges being faced by young people in the country.
If the young are equipped with the essential knowledge about their bodies and how they can make conscious decisions regarding them, we could report a change in the trend we have been seeing in the past.
The Government has already made headway towards this end.
Zimbabwe’s curriculum has been modernised to address contemporary issues, impacting the type of graduates leaving schools.
One such addition is guidance and counselling as a learning area in schools.
These programmes, combined with Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), empower young people with the knowledge, skills and values they need to navigate adolescence and adulthood.
This education allows them to make informed life choices and ultimately, reach their full potential.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) advocated for the adoption of CSE by the Government and has been strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to roll out CSE in schools.
With support from the Health Resilience Fund, UNFPA worked with the ministry to provide CSE under the Guidance and Counselling learning area.
A comprehensive sexuality education curriculum has since been developed.
CSE aims to empower young people with correct knowledge, attitudes, skills, and values to make informed SRHR health choices which contribute to the reduction of teenage pregnancy and HIV/STI infections.
Currently, CSE is examinable in all the 6 798 primary schools and discussions are under way to make it examinable in the 2 980 secondary schools.
In 2023, 10 provinces were supported to strengthen the capacities of learners to effectively participate in child protection committees in which CSE is being delivered.
An estimated 500 000 learners were recruited into these committees and are acquiring knowledge, positive attitudes and skills to make informed decisions.
Bulawayo Province Schools Inspector for guidance and counselling, Mrs Lavinia Moyo, said the incorporation of guidance and counselling as a compulsory learning area for both primary and secondary schools was yielding positive results.
“It took us a while to come up with comprehensive syllabus that we are using now in schools. The syllabus covers a lot of topics, which were meant to address the challenges that we faced or that we face as a nation. So it focused on the national challenges, some of which include child-headed families, poor disciplinary measures taken by families, and assisting schools in curbing the issue of drugs and substance abuse. Child marriages, child labour and many others were also included,” she said.
“Now, guidance and counselling as a learning area has been very effective because all the learners in the school get an opportunity to be exposed to these comprehensive topics. Mainly they cover sexuality education and it is important for the learners in their developmental stages to understand themselves and to know why they are feeling the way they are feeling, how the communities expect them to present themselves. And it exposes them to a lot of issues that they may not understand as teenagers growing up, which when explained to them or taught to them in a lesson, they get to understand it better.”
Under the heritage-based curriculum being used in schools, it is good that comprehensive sexuality education is now a key component for the social development of learners.
Mrs Moyo said for schools in Bulawayo, there had been a significant reduction of cases of teenage pregnancies.
“We have been monitoring 15 secondary schools where we introduced guidance and counselling and I am happy to report that the issue of pregnancies has gone down significantly.
“We also noted that the re-entry policy is being well handled in schools where very few girls are going out of school because of pregnancies and those that fall pregnant are being retained in the school until they are uncomfortable themselves and then they take leave. When it’s time to come back to class they are taken back with no issues,” she added.
CSE remains one of the most interesting and impactful interventions that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, with support from UNFPA has implemented.
If sex education is part of the conversations at every stage from ECD to A-Level, then it can make an impact on the health outcomes for young people.
Of course, sexuality education has been made to be age appropriate and gender specific for it to be successfully implemented.
Primary schools have also been implementing this through the guidance and counselling programme.
At Mawaba Primary School in Bulawayo, the programme is definitely making an impact.
Ms Definy Mlilo, the health patron at the school says health and sexuality education is being rolled out in age appropriate doses for all learners from ECD to Grade 7.
“For the little ones, the ECDs Grade Ones, Two and Three, we normally teach them about their body parts. We focus mainly on the sexual reproductive organs.
“We teach them that they should bath themselves and not allow anyone to touch them inappropriately. Whenever someone touches them, we encourage them to report the matter to the person they trust, and mostly we encourage them to report it here at school, especially the school counsellor.
“For the upper grades, we continue from where we left with the little ones. We teach them on reproductive health and the stages of development such as puberty. They should look at how they are developing and also continue making sure that no one touches them; they should not consent to sex,” she said.
The school also has a Gender-Based Violence room where learners can access counselling services and many other health services including menstrual hygiene. For CSE services, parents have also been incorporated to ensure the child gets educated both in school and at home.
Ms Mlilo said even the boys also get educated on their sexuality and how they can support girls when they encounter challenges.
This reduces incidents of young boys failing to respect girls and women.
According to UNESCO, when delivered well, CSE empowers young people to make informed decisions about relationships and sexuality and navigate a world where gender based violence, gender inequality, early and unintended pregnancies, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections still pose serious risks to their health and well-being.
It also keeps children safe from abuse by teaching them about their bodies and how to change practices that lead them to fall pregnant before they are ready.
This can ensure that the country has an empowered young generation that has the power to say NO to situations that are detrimental to their future.
An informed young person is indeed an asset to the nation!
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