The government has decided to introduce a sex and reproductive health education programme at all secondary level educational institutions, including schools and madrasas, across the country.
The programme will be initiated under ‘Generation Breakthrough’ project of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE).
Project Director Dr Mohammad Jahangir Hossain, also planning and development director of DSHE, said that the success of the ‘General Breakthrough’ project on Sex Reproductive Health Education that remained in operation from 2014 till 2018 had caused the government to bring all educational institutions under its coverage.
He said that a total of 207,052 students from 250 schools in five new districts will be covered under the second phase of the project that starts this year.
The project would be introduced in educational institutions of Chattogram and Sylhet in 2021 and 2022, he said, adding that between 2024 and 2025, it would be introduced in half of the institutions in the other six divisions.
Associated sources and spot visits found that despite opposition from a religious quarter, interest about sex and reproduction health education is rising among students and guardians.
Adolescent students aged between 10 to 19 years were being educated at the ‘Gender Equality for All Corners’ set up at different schools and madrasas.
Although the Generation Breakthrough project had ended, many educational institutions affiliated with it were continuing to run it at their own initiative.
DSHE and other concerned sources said that despite the inclusion of sex education and reproduction health as a subject in the secondary level curriculum, many schools and madrasas had not been initially able to teach the subject due to discomfort exhibited by the teachers themselves.
Under the circumstances, the first phase of the Generation Breakthrough project was undertaken at 350 schools and madrasas across the country, including Dhaka, in 2014 with provisions for training teachers.
A total of 1,400 teachers from affiliated schools received 5-day basic trainings while institution principals received half-day trainings under the first phase of the project which concluded this year.
The DSHE implemented the project with the aid of the non-government body, Concerned Women for Family Development (CWFD), and Plan International’s Bangladesh chapter at the funding of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The second phase of the project was scheduled to begin at the funding of Canada in Jamaplur, Sirajganj, Moulvibazar, Patuakhali and Rangamati to be concluded in 2022.
The project received widespread accolades from students and teachers who were trained under it, terming it as a must to ensure that adolescent children did not become derailed and received the right guidance through it.
Principal of the Ideal School and College (Motijheel) Shahan Ara said that students had spontaneously participated in the Generation Breakthrough project which should be introduced in all educational institutions.
Assistant teacher of Jatrabari’s Tomirul Millat Kamil Madrassah Abdus Sobhan said that the project had helped to remove all misconceptions about sex and reproductive health education among students and created the notion of gender equality in them.
Guardian Shahidul Islam said that the future generation had the right to avail scientific knowledge about sex education which must be provided to them during their adolescence.
