Ministry of Education and Sports
THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
LAUNCH OF SEXUALITY EDUCATION FRAMEWORK ON 11TH MAY 2018
Introduction
About 33% of Uganda’s population is made up of young
people below the age of 19. This youthful population is a
potential dividend for driving national economic growth and
transformation. However, the young people face various
challenges in the formative stages of assuming social roles
and identity. The challenges include, among others: early
and unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, increasing
sexually transmitted infections, child abuse, gender based
violence and sexual abuse.
The Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2016 indicated
that nearly a quarter of the girls in Uganda start their
menstruation at the age of 13, while 36% of the girls are
sexually active (29% in primary and 50% in secondary
school) and teenage pregnancy stands at 25%. The Uganda
AIDS Indicator Survey 2011 revealed that HIV prevalence
among adolescents aged 10-14 years is at 1.9% for males
and 2.3% for females and 4% of young men and women age
15-24 have already been infected. The key drivers for these
problems relate to rapid social changes through urbanization,
globalization, media and foreign cultural influence, which are
not effectively mitigated by accurate, age-appropriate and
culturally sensitive information and education.
It is against this background that Government of Uganda,
through Ministry of Education and Sports, has developed a
National Framework for Sexuality Education to equip young
people with knowledge and skills to deal with the challenges.
Background to Sexuality Education in the Education Sector
In Uganda, sexuality education in formal institutions of
learning has been through collaborative efforts of Ministry
of Education and Sports and partners, including the research
community, faith based organizations, cultural institutions,
parents and the learners. In the 1980s, sexuality education
initiatives included: School Health Education Program
(SHEP), the Health Education Network (HEN), and Save the
Youth from AIDS (SYFA) program.
In 2003, H.E. the President launched a campaign called
“Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication
to Youth (PIASCY) to address the problem of HIV/AIDS
among children and youth in primary schools. In 2005,
PIASCY was scaled-up to include Post-primary education
institutions. In 2006, government developed the Education
and Sports Sector National Policy Guidelines on HIV/AIDS
with the key strategy of raising the knowledge base of
learners, students and education managers on HIV/AIDS.
Access to HIV prevention and management programs for
adolescent boys and girls is one of the priorities in the NDP-
II. The Sustainable Development Goals, to which and Uganda
is a signatory, has three goals related to sexuality education.
The National Sexuality Education Framework
In spite of the various initiatives, there is still a gap in effective
delivery of sexuality education in the country. The absence
of standardized written materials for providing sexuality
education has consequently led to different materials,
mainly developed outside the country, being either wholly
or partially adapted for the Ugandan context. In most cases,
these are used without the approval Government. All these
underscore the need for a framework that provides clear
guidelines on scope and coverage of sexuality education in
educational institutions.
In 2016, Ministry of Education and Sports embarked on
expediting the protracted process of formulating a national
framework on sexuality education in Uganda, through an
expansive process of wide consultations and advocacy
among a cross section of stakeholders. This culminated in
the Ministerial approval of the draft policy framework. The
framework, which is values-based, seeks to create an over-
arching national direction for providing sexuality education
to young people in the formal education setting. It will guide
the development of sexuality education curricula, textbooks,
programmes, and messages to ensure that they are relevant,
accurate, age appropriate, culturally and religious sensitive.
It will also guide monitoring performance and evaluating
existing and new programmes.
National Launch of the Framework
The First Lady and Hon. Minister of Education and Sports
will preside over the national launch and dissemination of
the National Sexuality Education Framework on 11th May
2018 at Kampala Parents School. The main purpose of the
formal launch is to create awareness and ensure that the
national consensus on sexuality education is well understood
and appreciated by all stakeholders in preparation for
implementation.
PERMANENT SECRETARY,
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SPORTS