Factors Influencing Implementation Of Sex Education Curricular In secondary Schools In Kenya: A Case Of Kabete Sub-County, Kiambu County

Abstract

Despite the Kenyan government has offering support for sexuality education, the education sector policies have largely promoted an abstinence-only approach, and this has resulted in a lack of comprehensiveness in a number of topics offered in the curricula. Principals, teachers and students alike have unanimously concerted that sexuality education need to be taught in schools. However the topics integrated into compulsory and examinable subjects are limited in scope, and there is little incentive for concerned parties to prioritize them. The purpose of the study was to establish the factors that hinder the implementation of the sexuality education curricula in high schools in Kabete Sub-county. The study also sought to determine the attitude of students and teachers towards sexuality education. Data was collected from both students and teachers through a self-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. In qualitative analysis, inferences were made from respondents’ opinions. Analysis presented thematically in narrative and tabular form. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics including frequency counts and percentages. The study established that the major factors that hindered implementation of sexuality were; limited time for the teachers, the content of Comprehensive sexuality is unknown to teachers, lack of teacher training on adolescent sexuality, lack of teaching resources and sensitivity of sexuality as a subject. Students wanted more information on sexual intercourse, contraceptive methods, boy/girl relationships, pregnancy, and pornography and requested more participatory teaching methods. The research concluded that both teachers and students had a positive attitude to sexuality and that if the barrier factors are removed then Comprehensive Sexuality Curricular can have high chances of implementation. The research recommended that; improvement and scaling up of teacher training is crucial for effective delivery of sexuality education. Also joint efforts between the government and civil society organizations are necessary to develop and implement a sexuality education program that is age appropriate and based on internationally recognized standards with the latest evidence of what constitutes a successful program in Kenya