Teacher and parental involvement in providing comprehensive sexuality education in selected primary schools of Kalomo district of Zambia

Abstract

The study sought to investigate teacher and parental involvement in the provision of comprehensive sexuality education in selected primary schools of Kalomo district of Zambia. This was from the background that the Ministry of General Education included Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in the primary school curriculum with an aim of providing information to the learners whilst in school. Using a phenomenological design, In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 teachers who taught grades 5 to 7 and 20 parents whose pupils were in grades 5 to 7 in the five selected primary schools. Data was analysed thematically by coding and sorting before presenting findings. The study findings revealed that parents in schools supported the teaching and learning of comprehensive sexuality education by allowing relatives to help pupils answer the question on sensitive pregnancy, childbirth and sex itself. The challenges parents and teachers faced included culture barriers and older pupils failing to participate in the discussion about sex in classes, among others. The study recommended that both parents and teachers should impart correct knowledge on comprehensive sexuality to the future generation by breaking the cultural barriers which hinder the smooth delivery of Comprehensive Sexuality Education knowledge in the community.