Include sex education in national curriculum

There must be training for teachers so that they can deliver the sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) lessons in an innovative and interesting approach, breaking the existing stigma and socio-cultural taboo, said speakers at a webinar yesterday.

They also pointed out the importance of inclusion of SRHR issues in the examinations, so that students become more interested and eager to learn these issues from their curriculum, which will play a great role in preventing sexual violence.

The webinar, titled "Importance of incorporation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) education in the National Curriculum for the prevention of sexual violence", was jointly organised by Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha (BNPS) and The Daily Star.

Rokeya Kabir, executive director of BNPS, said since in 2021, the national curriculum will be revised, BNPS demands incorporation of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in the national curriculum and it must be treated as the health and sexual rights of women.

Rokeya Kabir also highlighted that a gender-sensitive education system and scientific analysis of CSE from an early age can work as a tool to prevent sexual violence.

Reproductive health specialist Dr Sameena Chowdhury, former head of the Department of Gynaecology and Obs at Dhaka Medical College, who is currently the president of Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society of Bangladesh (OGSB), stressed on the importance of knowing one's body and highlighted the existing taboo related to sexual health issues.

She also condemned the irrelevant objectification of women in the media and stressed on the importance of humanitarian development.

Prof Dr Md Mainul Islam, head of the Department of Population Science, University of Dhaka, said, "Along with incorporating the CSE issues in the national curriculum, we must monitor the practice of such lessons in the national, mass and local levels."

He also stressed on setting up the learning outcomes, as well as timing and delivery method for CSE.

Shaheen Anam, executive director, Manusher Jonno Foundation, said the lack of SRHR issues has a severe impact on our society.

"Although adolescence is the most vulnerable stage of our life cycle when boys and girls experience a change in their body and mind… and need support, we don't have any support system for these groups," she said.

"The way pornography is spreading, the uneducated minds cannot process the information, and it directly creates an impact on violence against women and girls," she said. "When we talk to married women in field level, we come across the magnitude of sexual violence they face, which is the result of the lack of sex education," she added.

Dr Mushfiqua Zaman Satiar, senior adviser, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Bangladesh, in her speech as special guest said, "Although we have good policies (ie youth policy, education policy), action plans, and initiatives, we are lagging behind in terms of implementation."

Among other recommendations, Dr Mashfiqua stressed the availability of age-specific CSE and incorporation of menstrual health management issues in the primary school curriculum.

Prof Md Moshiuzzaman, member, National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), said "We are working on how effectively we can incorporate the CSE issues in our national curriculum revision, and how we can ensure proper output from our effort."

NCTB is working on creating innovative, gender-sensitive and interdisciplinary learning methods in the next curriculum revision, he assured.

Prof Dr Syed Md Golam Faruk, director-general of Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education; Dr Noor Mohammad, executive director of Population Services and Training Centre; and Sanjib Ahmed, director (programme), Family Planning Association of Bangladesh, also spoke at the webinar.