THE story about 42 pupils who were arrested by police on Friday evening for drinking alcohol and engaging in free for all sex at one of the houses in Chingola’s Riverside residential area is a sad development that cannot pass without comment.

It’s only less than two weeks when Sathya-Sai School in Ndola’s Pamodzi area excluded six pupils and suspended six others for being involved in sex parties.

The rise of sex parties amongst our school going children should be everyone’s concern.

If the rise of sexual hook-up culture amongst our teens is not enough to make us realise that programmes which censor or exclude important information that could help young people make informed decisions concerning their sex lives, then nothing will.

In as much as most of us would wish that abstinence was the only message we preached to our school going children, it is obvious this is not working.

The prevalence of teen pregnancy and HIV infections among our youths speaks volumes about their sex lives.

We have lived in denial for far too long as a country. There is little if any evidence to show that abstinence-only programmes are effective – even at achieving abstinence among teens.

As a country we need to invest more in proven effective programmes that can help young people protect their lives.

Comprehensive sex education has been proven effective. Evaluations of comprehensive sex education programmes show that these programmes can help youth delay onset of sexual activity, reduce the frequency of sexual activity, reduce number of sexual partners, and increase condom and contraceptive use.

Importantly, the evidence shows youth who receive comprehensive sex education are not more likely to become sexually active, increase sexual activity, or experience negative sexual health outcomes.
Our young people need honest, effective sex education – not ineffective, shame-based abstinence-only programs.

Condemning sexual immorality among our teens and urging them to abstain
has failed to yield the desired results as can be seen in these two recent cases.
Our teens are having sex whether we like it or not.

Regardless of how much we denounce the culture of sexual-hook-up amongst our kids, such things will continue to happen behind parents backs. We might as well teach them how to protect themselves.

Let us not live in denial anymore.

KAMPA SENKWE