Two United Nations (UN) bodies have advocated the inclusion of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in school curriculum in Nigeria.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) made the appeal in Abuja during a digital dialogue on prevention of School-Related Gender Based Violence (GBV).
UNESCO’S National Programme Officer for Education, Ngozi Amanze, said that it was important to implement an accurate, age-appropriate, culturally sensitive and gender transformative sexuality education in the country.
According to her, early sexuality education would equip children with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will promote good health and well-being, respect for human rights and gender equality.
Mrs Amanze said that UNESCO had evolved a global strategy for ensuring that children and young people had access to safe, inclusive health-promoting learning environments to check GBV.
She also said that plans were underway to develop a protocol for preventing, responding and reporting school-related GBV in three focus states.
Mrs Amenze enjoined youths to lend their voices to calls for the passage of the pending Acts and Bills on Violence Against Persons Prohibition Bill that had been domesticated in five states and others.
“Be the change you want to see by becoming a change agent, do not be complacent. Ensure that you report any form of violence to the necessary authorities or a trusted fellow, and do not be rape apologists,” she urged.
Similarly, a UNODC official, Ms Lulu Asaad, said that the dialogue was aimed at getting young people to share their experiences on issues of gender-based violence, and school-related gender based violence.
Asaad also said that the dialogue enabled the participants to discuss and share ideas on how to prevent, respond and report GBV as well as proposed ways the government should tackle it.
