Right to Sexual and Reproductive Health Education 2016
trend observed was that, unlike younger participants with their curiosity, the
teenagers do not attempt to seek information from adults within their family
or community as they believed it was inappropriate to talk about such issues
with their parents, or they were too self‐conscious or they had access to other
sources of information which is not accessible to younger people.
Compared to males between the ages of 14 to18, the youth participants
seemed to be more aware of the availability of information and their sources.
Even though, there were a few participants who were not keen on finding
information regarding SRH, there were a reasonable number of people who
had already attempted to seek information and were aware of places where
they can access such information. One significant point raised by some of the
respondents was that it was important for health centers to guide and inform
the people about the information and its availability. Workshops, seminars,
and information sessions were mentioned as the best way to educate the
public regarding issues of SRH. According to the participants, these
programmes would be most effective when they are conducted for school
children with the help of qualified professionals. Most participants felt very
strongly about this and they insisted that regulations must be made in order
to prevent unqualified personals from giving such information to the public.
Many participants recalled and shared some of their unsuccessful attempts at
seeking information regarding SRH. One respondent from the youth group
stated that she was not able to get information from the Health Centre in her
island even six months into her pregnancy and that she had to get the
information from the internet. Many among the student respondents stated
that they always went to their Islam teacher with queries they had regarding
puberty, but stated that they did not get any information from them and in
some cases the information given was inaccurate. Almost all respondents
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THEMATIC ANALYSIS