Conservative groups in Kyrgystan are leading a movement to promote “family values” and ban sexual education pamphlets that target adolescents. Mavlyan Askarbekov, who represents the nationalist group Erkin El, claims that sexual education is “contrary to the moral and ethical considerations, traditions and mentality of our people.”
In response to recent criticism, Galina Chirkina, head of the Alliance for Reproductive Health explained “teenagers don’t have any information [about sexual health] and they end up looking for it in dubious places, like on the Internet. Our idea was to answer their questions professionally.”
To educate adolescents on these issues, the non-governmental organization Alliance for Reproductive Health publishes educational brochures on puberty, virginity and marriage, relationships, sexual relations and pregnancy. This is part of a broader nationwide campaign to increase sexual education in response to rising rates of teen pregnancy, abortion and HIV infection.
In May of this year, the government announced plans to develop a reproductive health bill that will address sex education inadequacies in Kyrgyz schools. As of 2013, Kyrgyzstan has a higher rate of teenage pregnancy than any other Central Asian country. A study performed by UNICEF in 2008 found that very few Kyrgyz parents explain puberty and sexuality to their children. As a result, over 50% of girls between the ages of 13 to 17 were afraid of signs of puberty because they had no previous knowledge of what these changes to their bodies meant.
“More than one generation of sexually illiterate people, people who don’t understand basic aspects of sex, have been raised. There are many examples of how the absence of this sort of education negatively impacts school children. People know nothing about their bodies. They don’t even understand how they function” stated Gulnara Ibraeva, a Kyrgyz sociologist.
Although Kyrgyzstan’s health and education ministries have begun to prioritize sexual education, access to educational materials remains extremely limited and controversial. Many students claim that school lessons on sex and reproduction are “useless.” Teachers promote the practice of safe sex but remain vague on details, failing to explain what steps should be taken to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
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Written by Amanda Lubit