Improving the Management of Growing Up and Sexual Maturation at Primary School
The purpose of this component was to support initiatives aimed at improving teacher knowledge
and school management of sexual maturation in order to encourage a supportive curricula and
environment at primary schools in Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe.Improving the management of the
process of sexual maturation at primary schools was a central aspect of the QUEST programme for
three key reasons:
-
Understanding the process by which a 'child'
becomes an 'adult' is one of the most fundamental
of all life-skills. The HIV/AIDS pandemic demonstrates the extent to which the acquisition of
knowledge about sexual and reproductive health - but also the capacity to use this knowledge
effectively - has literally become a life or death issue for young people in Africa.
-
The formal school system has an increasingly important role to play in providing direction and
guidance around the process of growing up, particularly as more traditional structures have either
broken down or become less able to deal with contemporary demands and responsibilities.
-
The poor management of sexual maturation can itself act also as a hidden barrier to the acquisition
of other basic learning competencies such as literacy which demand regular and sustained attendance
at school. For instance, absenteeism because of the lack of facilities to manage menstruation can
ultimately lead to drop-out amongst adolescent girls at primary school.
Recent studies suggest that the current management of sexual maturation within the primary education
system is systematically failing to meet the needs of all children, especially girls, at three different
levels:
(a) to provide accessible and accurate knowledge and information about the process of sexual maturation;
(b) to provide essential facilities to ensure that children (especially girls) are not excluded from full
participation in the system because of their maturing bodies; and
(c) to provide an adequate and appropriate value system through which children can be guided into safe
and healthy adulthood.
Click here here for more about how this component was developed
A range of projects were supported by QUEST in order to explore ways to improve the management of
sexual maturation in primary schools in Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
These projects fell into four
different categories:
- Supported university based research teams to work in partnership with selected teacher training
colleges and key education stakeholders to develop instructional materials
to improve the
management of sexual maturation at primary schools
- Supported initiatives which demonstrated/experimented
with innovative ways to produce and distribute
affordable feminine hygiene protection materials to rural parts of Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe
- Supported initiatives which demonstrated/experimented
with innovative ways to improve school
sanitation
particularly with regard to making toilets more gender sensitive
- Supported initiatives which popularized the information, findings and recommendations to improve
the management of sexual maturation in primary schools in Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe