OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF MAINSTREAMING ADOLESCENT SEXUAL REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND LIFE PLANNING SKILLS IN THE UGANDA UPPER PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM

The challenges affecting young people (10-19 years) today are generally visible. That is, the growing numbers of teenage pregnancies, school drop outs, substance abuse, and social, sexual and reproductive health problems like date rape, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV / AIDS are all indicators that many young people are simply unable to cope with such numerous challenges. For young men and women, adolescence is a time filled with excitement, new feelings, many unanswered questions, changes and difficult choices. Therefore they will need to know the facts about their own sexuality and learn skills to help them plan for a happy future and healthy lives. Young people must begin to think about the skills needed for their future in the world of work. During this time, they will have relationships with peers of the same and opposite sex. At the same time, they will need to have a respectful, loving relationship with family members and they will need to learn about making independent decisions. Young people must also learn to deal with new feelings about sexuality, their physical and emotional changes, and how to make responsible decisions about reproduction and later, parenthood. In an attempt to address the above adolescence issues, National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) with funding from United Nation Funds for Population Activities (UNFPA) was involved in a project to Mainstream Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health /Life Planning Skills (ASRH /LPS) into the upper primary (P5 - P7) in the career subjects of social studies, integrated science and religious education from 2006 up to 2009. This paper describes how the ASRH/LPS was infused into the upper primary (P5-P7) career subjects. It also demonstrates how the in-service teachers in the five pilot districts were trained. It further highlights opportunities and challenges which were observed by the key stake holders (District Education Officials, Head teachers, Centre Coordinating Tutors, Classroom Teachers, and Primary 5-7 pupils) in the five districts where the redesigned syllabi were piloted. It finally identifies the significant learning experiences and strategies for future successful implementation of similar curriculum innovation.