Ni Luh Putu Ariastuti Ari 8w 2011

Indonesian adolescents need a comprehensive sex education

INTRODUCTION Adolescence is a transitional period from childhood into adulthood. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adolescents refer to individuals in the 10-19 years old age groups. During this period, adolescents experience complex issues that may create public health problems. One of the complex issues relates to sexuality. It has been argued that sex education can be a solution to prevent public health problems among adolescents. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultures Organisation (UNESCO) (2009), a comprehensive sex education, which also can be called sexuality education, is defined as a neutral, scientific and realistic teaching method which supports people of proper age to develop understanding in all aspects of sexuality. In some countries including Indonesia,the implementation of sex education is still debatable. Some different arguments have been put forward.However, adolescents in Indonesianot only struggle with their physicalchanges but also facing sociocultural obstaclesdue to their sexuality. Therefore, the Indonesian government should provide comprehensive sex education for adolescents. This essay will consider the needs of Indonesian adolescents related to sexuality information then explain thechallenges of having a sex education program in Indonesia. Finally, it will put forwardsome international recommendations for theIndonesian government toimplement a comprehensive sex education program. THE NEEDS FOR SEX EDUCATION During adolescence, people experience tremendous shifts in their life, such as biological, psychological and emotional changes which will affect the way they cope in their future adulthood. The sexual aspect is one of important factor that changessignificantlyin this period. Biological change is shown by a maturing of the reproductive organsand secretion of sexual hormones. In addition to this, adolescents start to determine their sexual orientation

Ni Luh Putu Ariastuti Ari 8w 2011 and experience various sexual activities, as part of these psychological and emotional changes. Due to all of these changes, adolescence is considered as a risky period. According to research conducted in Indonesia (Indonesia IBBS, 2007; CHR-UI, 2000; FHI-ARC UnikaAtma Jaya, 2010), as cited by UNESCO (2010), adolescence is a vulnerable period for young people to contract unsafe behaviour, for instance unprotected sex. At the same time, adolescents become susceptible to problem ofunwanted pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted infections including HIV (Situmorang, 2003). AgustinaSitumorang, in her report about Adolescent Reproductive Health in Indonesia, indicates that Indonesian adolescentsexperience extreme social changes, such as changing paradigms on virginity and premarital sex, whichaffect their beliefs, approaches and behavior. Recently, many Indonesian adolescents have chosen to postpone their marital age; however, this situation creates other problems related to premarital sex. She also point outthat, compared to unmarried male adolescents, unmarried female adolescents face a higher risk of unwanted pregnancies along with their effects including abortion and giving birth at a young age. One contributing factor is the trend to delay marital age which leads to an increasing amount of sexual activity before marriage. Adolescents problems become more complicated by the fact that Indonesian

adolescentshave limited understanding of sexuality. In terms of sexuality information, UNESCO (2010) suggest that although, nowadays, adolescents are more exposed to information about sexuality, which is available widely through the media such as the Internet, this does not develop sufficient understanding of reproductive health and rights. Information also cannot feed effectively through the current school program. All these facts show that there are strong needs for appropriate and comprehensive sexuality information among Indonesian adolescents. SEX EDUCATION AND THE CHALLENGES

Ni Luh Putu Ariastuti Ari 8w 2011 Sex education programs face some challenges in their implementation in Indonesia. The cultural background of most Indonesian societies, in which sex is still considereda taboo issue,might impede adolescents in obtaining appropriate information related to

sexuality.Stephanie Creagh (2004), in her research report, mentioned that Indonesians still feel uncomfortable discussing sexual issues.Previously, Utomo (2003) has arguedthat cultural taboos limit access to appropriate information while young people are exposed to uncensored and often inappropriate sexual materials in the media. These conditions affectparents and teachers values towards education related to sexuality. In addition, UNESCO (2009) also notes thatpersonal beliefs, narrow knowledge and limited skills could create challenges for people, in particular for sex education providers, delivering this sensitive subject. However, there are solutions for all of these issues. Providingappropriate training and clear guidelines for teachers on how to address appropriate sexuality information for adolescents is one solution. UNESCO(2009), in one of their

publications,International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education An evidence-informed approach for schools, teachers and health educators, recommendsnot just training the teachers but also trying to involve parents in sex education programs to ensure the programscan be implemented effectively. Moreover, research conducted in Yogyakarta, one of the provinces in Indonesia, foundthat there is an assumption sex education may provoke adolescents to initiate sexual activity at anearlier age in Indonesian communities (Creagh, 2004). This assumption

becomesignificant disadvantage that constrains the implementation of sex education programs in Indonesia. However, various studies have proved that sex education has no negative impact onadolescents. Based on a study conducted by UNESCO in 2008, sex education programs arefound to be harmless. Programs do not provoke sexual activity; in fact, they postpone sexual debut and encourage condom usage and other contraceptive methods among young people. The study hasfound that to ensure the program has the intended impact on adolescent behaviour, a supportive environment is needed. A stigma-

Ni Luh Putu Ariastuti Ari 8w 2011 free environment and adequate access to reproductive health services are parts of the supportive environment mentioned by UNESCO (2009). A systemic review by Kirby et al (2006), as cited by Kaye (2006),found similar results, making the point that sex education provided in school can delay sexual debut, encourage positive behaviour, and increase knowledge and skill in choosingsafer sexual behaviour. Another possible challenge to sex education programs in Indonesia is the commitment of the Indonesian government.The Indonesian authorities have no strong commitment to implementing comprehensive sex education. They have not seen the programs as their priority, although,the Indonesian government, through the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) supported by other parties such as the United Nations Agencies (UNICEF, UNESCO and UNFPA) and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), has produced policies, training manuals and school curricula related to sexual and reproductive health. However, UNESCO has assessed that the policies are being ignored and the textbookscontent is inconsistent and unreliable (UNESCO 2010). In addition, most of the publications focus only on the HIV issue and biological aspects of sexuality and put aside other aspects of adolescents sexuality. UNESCO also has found that, students can only discuss anatomical aspects of sex and are discouraged from discussing psychological, social and cultural aspects. This has resulted in incorrect sexual and reproductive health information in schoolbooks, which have mostly been developed based only on ethical biology or on prescriptive beliefs and social standards.Nevertheless, comprehensive sex education can be seen as a good investment because, as has been noted previously, the program can save numbers of Indonesian adolescents lives by providing reliable information to protectthem fromserious sexually transmitted infections. THE INTERNATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS The Indonesian Government should pay attention to recommendations promoted by international convention as well as policies that strongly recommendabout comprehensive

Ni Luh Putu Ariastuti Ari 8w 2011 sex education for adolescents.For instance, the UNESCO (2009) has cited numbers of international documents and conventions that encourage countries to provide sex education for young people. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) includes young peoples sexual and reproductive health aspects on MDG 3 (achieving gender equality and empowerment of women), MDG 5 (reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health) and MDG 6 (combating HIV/AIDS). Countries should try to provide comprehensive reproductive health care for adolescents, including comprehensive sexual education. This was mentioned in the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The Convention on the Rights of the Child (2003) & Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (2000) also mentioned that access to a comprehensive sex education is the right of young people and therefore, countries should provide it and make sure young people can retrieve reliable factual information related to sexual and reproductive health. In short, all of the international recommendationsemphasize all

countries,including Indonesia,shouldprovide comprehensive sex education for adolescents.

CONCLUSION The implementation of comprehensive sex education facessome cultural challengeswhich impacton how sex education providers deliver sexuality as a subject. However, as discussed previously, training and involvement of teachers and parentsin the program can minimize the obstacles. The Indonesian government is lack of commitment to sex education, has constrained the implementation of the program. Despite the challenges, the strong needs forreliable sexuality information among Indonesian adolescents and the

internationalrecommendationsshould begood reasons for the Indonesian government to provide more comprehensive sex education for Indonesian adolescents. Word count :1456 REFERENCES

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