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Sex Education in Fiji

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Abstract

In recent decades one of the greatest challenges facing educators around the globe has been providing education programs to assist young people to optimise their sexual health. The increasing influence from the western world has created tensions between the traditional values of the Pacific society and the desire for modernity from the western world; as a result young people are swayed by new ideas, and misunderstandings between the generations have increased. In Fiji, there is a major reluctance and hesitance about breaking perceived taboos and addressing adolescent problems directly and openly. It is not surprising that proposing to address adolescent reproductive health openly in Fiji was viewed as sensitive and potentially controversial. The aim of the study is to highlight the constraints towards teaching sex/sexual education in Fiji schools. An exploratory approach was taken to achieve this objective based on secondary reviews. The findings of the study highlight that cultural barriers as well as barriers of inadequate provision of sex education via the curriculum coupled with lack of support from religious groups/clergy man escalate the risk factors faced by the people of Fiji, particularly students, and hampers their ability to make good decisions about sexual and reproductive health matters. This research will be useful to school and the education practitioners seeking to introduce sex education in schools in Fiji because it covers major constraints to teaching the subject matter that need to be addressed.

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Notes

  1. See Aids Data Hub Slides available at: www.aidsdatahub.org.

  2. See Aids Data Hub slides available at: www.aidsdatahub.org.

  3. Prepared by www.aidsdatahub.org based on SPC (2008).

  4. Ibid.

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Naz, R. Sex Education in Fiji. Sexuality & Culture 18, 664–687 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-013-9204-3

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