As highly controversial and problematic matters, Sex and sex affairs should be taught and in fact intensified in school so as to prepare the teens as future adults and more so parents. The current social settings make teenagers to interpret education as a hindrance, old fashioned and ineffective.
These current social settings deprive them the correct information, which may later come to haunt them with early pregnancies and other bigger problems such as sexually transmitted diseases. Increasing sex education will be preparing young people to be responsible, as they will have knowledge on sex and sex matters.
As much as we would teach abstinence education, it would also be important to teach safe sex education to those teenagers who feel they cannot abstain. Such education would entail lessons on birth control measures such as avoiding multiple sex partners, use of condoms during intercourse and guide them on where to obtain condoms and how to use them.
This will help a lot not only in curbing teenage pregnancies but other complications for instance problems associated with sexually transmitted diseases. Through proper education, a teenager will know that having unprotected sex will lead to pregnancy or contact of sexually transmitted diseases and therefore he/she will take precautions.
It would be sad if we continue acting blindly, refusing to see that the rate of teenage pregnancies is on the rise. We continue to say that teenagers are taught all they need to know about sex in schools.
Increasing sex education to our youngster and especially girls is crucial in curbing teenage pregnancies. If a teenage girl has the right information about her menstrual circle and wants to have sex without using condoms and contraceptives, she will time her safe period so as to engage in sex intercourse.
At the same time she will have in mind that having sex without protection is recipe for contracting STIs. Denying a teenager such an important piece of information will mean that we will be responsible for his/her mistakes. A teenager armed with information will be able to decide actions to take, bearing in mind the consequences of his or her actions.
Secondly, conversation on sex matters is seen as embarrassing and inappropriate in a family environment as parent will not want to be seen as encouraging their children to engage in premarital sex i.e. a mother may find it difficult to discuss with teenage son how to use a condom incase he is just about to have sex or a father talking to her teenage daughter about the use of contraceptive pills.
This should be another reason why sex education should be increased in schools. A teacher will not find any problem at all while demonstrating or talking to teens about sex issue.
It would be arguably inappropriate to continue advocating for abstinence programs only, while the out come of it is more teenage pregnancies. Teenagers are human beings with hormones and feelings. They know a lot about sex, only that the information they have is wrong. For examples, some teens believe that you cannot be pregnant if you have sex in a swimming pool.
Demystifying this and other silly myths known to teenagers by teaching them facts that they need to know about sex would help a lot. Abstaining is the best way to go but as soon as teenagers get out of the class and hit a party, it evaporates from their mind and any information on safe sex would be important at such situations.
Teenage sex is nowadays becoming an in thing or a trend among teenagers all over the world and unless we change our approach towards sex, the rising number of teenage pregnancies will continue being the order of the day.