1.1 Introduction
Sex education also known as sexuality education which is generally a broad term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, human sexual intercourse and other aspects of human sexual behavior. It consists of instruction on the development of an understanding of the physical, mental, emotional, social, economic and psychological phases of human relations as they are affected by sex in other words, sex education involves providing children with knowledge and concept that will enable them make informed and responsible decisions about sexual behaviors at all stages of their lives (Abogunri, 2005).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Sex education is about developing young people’s skills so that they make good choices. It is widely accepted that children have a right to sex education (Sickkid staff, 2019). It is a means by which they are helped to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation, unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Providing an effective sex education helps to meet young people’s right to have their sexuality and relationship they want to contribute to adolescents full social and economic potential, young people need the knowledge and skills to make choices about when to have sex and how to protect themselves. Comprehensive sex education curriculum has been endorsed by various Government educational Organizations and teenage advocacy groups as the most effective educational method for reducing teenage pregnancy with its complications and reduces Sexually Transmitted Diseases (Mueller, 2014).
According to Anibueze (2001) sex education is a study that makes an individual develop a positive and wholesome attitude towards sex, which enables him to live a full life, enjoy his or her life fully and develop as a responsible member of the of society to which he/she belongs. Like other forms of education, sex education aims at training the youths towards a better society. Sex education therefore is a design which enables an individual to acquire knowledge about sexuality and attitude towards sex.
Kearney (2008) also defined sex education as involving a comparative course of action by the school, calculated to bring about the socially desirable attitudes, practices and personal conduct on the part of children and adults that will best protect the individual as a human and the family as a social institution.
The main goals of sex education as Nwafor (2006) puts it; it is the promotion of sexual health by providing learner’s with opportunities to develop positive and factual view of sex, acquire the information and skills they need to take care of their health.
Despite the great positive influence sex education has on man, it has not been introduced in the curriculum of Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu State. Youths in the area are constantly faced with the threat of sexual issues, such as ignorance, misconduct, immorality, and diseases. Following this, it has become imperative now that there have been need for educationist to give attention to all phases of education by upgrading and improving the school curriculum on the area of sex education. Sex education is necessary to prepare the young for the task ahead. Even when the society sees the need for sex education, parents may not show any sign of support for its inclusion in the Junior Secondary School curriculum.
It is worth noting that in the school environment, socialization goes on among children of diverse cultures and backgrounds. Sex education can take place in a variety of settings both in and out of school. The school plays a vital significant role in the preparation of youths to cope with task of becoming responsible men and women in future through creation of awareness (Helen, 2006).
Kehily, (2002) ascertains that, in this different context, different people have opportunity and responsibility to provide sex education for young people. Therefore parents’ attitude can have effects on their children’s lives, some parents even when aware of their children’s curiosity towards sex matters, may deliberately deny them satisfactory answers or may completely shun them.
The word perception means attitudes or habit intended to counteract. According to Denga (2002) perception is the process of becoming aware of object qualities or relations by ware of sense organs. To Mallum and Haggai (2000) perception is the process by which we organize and interpret the pattern of stimuli in our environment. Perceived is defined as the process by which the individual uses his sense organs to transform the separate stimuli of the environment into awareness of objects and meanings. The combination of personal, present, sensory experiences and past experiences are organized into pattern of awareness which shows the quality and relationship of objects and meanings Denga (2002). The sum total of a person’s perception about a particular thing is attributed to his attitude. A person’s attitude makes him or her react in any way to a given situation favorably, indifferently or unfavorably (Mallum and Haggai, 2000)
Parent’s perception of sex education would refer to how they view and react to the need of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools. A study on the perception of parents towards sex education in Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu urban area is necessary because it will clearly give an insight on the level of their awareness and importance attached to this aspect of education. This will either lead to acceptance or resistance thereby drawing on the support of school administrators in redefining ways of introducing sex education in Junior Secondary Schools. Izugbara (2001) observed that in Nigeria, children grow up sexually absurd caught with distorted views of sex. The denial of sex education which primarily aims at giving correct factual information and understanding of problems of sex may create hardship to adolescents and the society in general. Besides, the youths cannot easily identify the direction of social change and are always caught in the web of confusion. Our education system which has been responsible for teaching our children what changes occur in their body and why they take place finds it difficult since sex education has not been included in the school as a subject.
It is not certain what has hampered its introduction. It is therefore difficult to begin to identify strategies to introduce sex education among Junior Secondary schools in Enugu urban area of Enugu State without actually knowing the cause of lack of it, since the perception of parents have not been ascertained. It is against this backdrop that the researcher set out to investigate the perception of parents towards sex education in Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu urban area of Enugu state.
Therefore, in Enugu Urban Area of Enugu State where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to investigate the perception of parents towards sex education in Junior Secondary Schools.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that a lot of sex related problems facing the youths today is undoubtedly linked with lack of sex education in schools which breeds a lot of social ills, death, population explosion as a result of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and even infertility. In their bid to satisfy their curiosity, many youths like to experiment their sexuality which usually leads them to dangerous consequences. Many a times the adolescents receive wrong information about sexuality and these myths and misconception are carried throughout their life time.
In Nigeria, a lot of people are facing the consequences of the sexual life they played while they were young. About 60 percent of youths experienced sexual intercourse before the age of 18 years and only few of this percentage perform it with full knowledge of it. Also, the alarming increase in the incidence of sexually transmitted disease (STDs) in these age groups is a matter of concern.
Many parents lack knowledge on when and how to start teaching their children about sex. They also do not know the importance of sex education. In some cultures, sex education is seen as taboo. Therefore, the study sought to explore the adolescents‟ opinion on various sexual issues that account for their sexual development and to establish the need for sex education in schools.
The non-implementation of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu urban area of Enugu State up to this period presupposes that some problems exist. Therefore, it is to this regard that the researcher seeks to investigate the perception of parents towards sex education in Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu urban area of Enugu State.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to find out the Perception of Parents towards Sex Education in Junior Secondary Schools using Enugu Urban Area of Enugu State as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To investigate the curriculum planners’ effort towards the inclusion of sex education in Junior Secondary School syllabus in the area under review;
- To find out whether culture affects perception of parents towards sex education in Junior Secondary Schools in the area under study;
- To determine the perception of parents towards sex education in Junior Secondary Schools in the study area; and
- To evaluate the implication of practical demonstration of sex education among Junior Secondary School Students in the study area.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What is the perception of parents towards the teaching of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools?
- To what extent does culture affect the teaching of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools?
- What is the curriculum planners’ effort towards the inclusion of sex education in Junior Secondary School Syllabus in Enugu metropolis?
- What is the implication of practical demonstration of sex education among Junior Secondary School Students in the study area?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: Perception of parents has no significant effect towards the teaching of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools
- H1: Perception of parents has significant effect towards the teaching of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools
Hypothesis Two
- H0: Culture has no significant effect in the teaching of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools
- H1: Culture has significant effect in the teaching of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools
Hypothesis Three
- H0: The curriculum planners’ effort towards the inclusion of sex education in Junior Secondary School Syllabus in Enugu metropolis has no significant effect on the teaching of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools
- H1: The curriculum planners’ effort towards the inclusion of sex education in Junior Secondary School Syllabus in Enugu metropolis has significant effect on the teaching of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools
1.7 Significance of Study
The study will be significant to the students, parents, education policy makers, federal government of Nigeria, guidance and counsellors, and the society at large.
- The findings of this study to the students may hopefully enlighten them on issues that constitute sex education, the study may also encourage students to acquire responsible sexual behavior thereby preventing them from early marriages, premarital sex, unwanted pregnancies, increased abortions, spread of human immune virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), school drop outs and other social services characterized in our society.
- To the parents, findings of this study may hopefully reveal their perceptual level. If positive or negative they could chart a new direction in addressing the issues and challenges arising from sexual matters among their children which also affects them greatly. Parents may create more awareness for the envisaged program of intervention through campaigns in churches and village meetings.
- To the education policy makers, the findings of this study is expected to shed more light and give them the direction to enact a policy on the inclusion of sex education in the Junior Secondary schools curriculum as a course of study and as well as encourage its speedy implementation in Junior Secondary schools. The findings of this study could prepare guidance and counsellors for effective development and implementation of the much needed sex education program. Counsellor education program could also be restructured and expanded as to take in its stride, such counselling intervention spheres as sexuality counselling for students.
- To the school administrators, this finding on this study will enable them create more awareness on sex education and dangers of negligence. This could be through seminars, workshops, conferences, and public enlightenment campaigns. Well planned and coordinated dispensation of valid information through the mass media will be employed by the school administrators to achieve better positive attitudes to issues of sex education since the youths are the future leaders of tomorrow and cannot continue to be ignorant in sexual matters.
- The findings of this study may hopefully enable federal government to encompass support for expansion of government resource allocation for sexuality education and counselling in Junior Secondary Schools, government education agencies will work hand in hand with professional counsellors to achieve this feat. Finally, the findings of this study may provide empirical basis for improvement in this aspect of education. This is because the result may provide empirical evidences on parents, effects and perception of sex education in Junior Secondary Schools.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Perception of Parents towards Sex Education in Junior Secondary Schools. The research covers the Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu Urban Area of Enugu State.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Sex Education:
Sex education is defined as the education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, and other aspects of human sexual behavior.
Education:
Education is viewed as the process of inviting truth and possibility. It is the wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of learning undertaken in the belief that all should have the chance to share in life.
