Right to Sexual and Reproductive Health Education 2016 (Shariah) and these topics were covered over a span of grade years starting from Grade Five. 3.1 Primary and Middle school education Islamic Studies for primary Grade Five students covered a brief area on purification and cleansing rituals, which is called ‘Hineun’ in Dhivehi. As the topic consists of the reasons for the Islamic way of cleansing, a brief explanation about puberty and menstruation was provided. However, it was important to note that the extent of explanation about puberty and menstruation was left solely at the discretion of the subject teachers. Therefore, there were chances that considerable disparity may exist in the information given to students. Additionally, the subject of puberty, menstruation and postpartum bleeding was covered in some detail in Islamic Studies taught in Grade Seven. The General Science subject taught in Grade Six and Seven also had some components of the topic SRH. Students in Grade Six were taught about AIDS under the topic ‘Unicellular Organisms’ and sperm cells were mentioned as reproductive cells under the topic ‘Cells’. The topic on AIDS explained what AIDS is, what it does and how it can be transmitted from one person to the other. In this explanation, the word ‘sex’ was mentioned even though it was not explained any further. Grade Seven Science book mentioned ‘sex organs’ under the topic ‘Organs and Systems’ and stated that sex organs are part of the reproductive system. However, there was no identification or mention of the human sex organs or their functions. None of the books gave much information from a RSH perspective. However, there were huge differences in some of the information and knowledge passed on to the students in some of the International Schools. For 25 STATUS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH EDUCATION IN MALDIVES

Select target paragraph3