Let’s tread carefully on sexuality education

Sometime in September last year, the government through the Ministry of Health, launched the National Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy 2015. At the launch, then Health CS James Macharia declared his ministry, together with that of Education, was working to ensure age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education is implemented in all schools.

The idea behind the move, according to the CS, was “to empower young people with appropriate information and skills to help them make informed choices about their sexuality.” What many have missed in that objective is just how carefully crafted it was. Each of those words is loaded with meaning and pregnant with intention. Indeed, it is only in recognising that this is part of a major international initiative that the import of the CS’s declaration begins to sink.