CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1             BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Sex education is a wide word that refers to learning about human sexual anatomy, reproduction, sexual intercourse, and other elements of human sexual behavior. According to Anibueze (2001), sex education is a study that helps a person establish a positive and healthy attitude toward sex, allowing him or her to live a complete life, enjoy life fully, and develop as a responsible member of the community to which he or she belongs. Sex education, like other types of education, attempts to prepare youths for a better society. As a result, sex education is a design that allows a person to learn about sexuality and develop a positive attitude toward sex. According to Kearney (2008), sex education entails a comparable course of action by the school, calibrated to instill in children and adults the socially acceptable attitudes, practices, and personal behaviour that would best safeguard the individual as a human and the family as a social institution. As Nwafor (2006) puts it, the fundamental aims of sex education are to promote sexual health by giving learners opportunity to develop a positive and accurate view of sex, as well as the information and skills they need to take care of their health. Despite the fact that sex education has a significant positive impact on men, it is not included in the curriculum of Junior Secondary School in Ebonyi State. The threat of sexual difficulties, such as ignorance, misbehavior, immorality, and infections, is always there for young people in the region (Sophia, 2005). As a result, it is now more important than ever for educators to pay attention to all phases of education by updating and enhancing school curricula in the field of sex education (Jenny, 2004). Sex education is required to educate the young for the challenges that lie ahead. Even if society recognizes the need of sex education, parents may refuse to support its inclusion in the Junior Secondary School curriculum. It's worth emphasizing that socializing takes place in the school setting among students from various ethnicities and backgrounds. Sex education may occur in a number of situations, both within and outside of the classroom. Through the establishment of awareness, the school plays a critical role in preparing teenagers to cope with the challenge of becoming responsible men and women in the future (Helen, 2006). According to Kehily (2002), various persons have the potential and obligation to give sex education for young people in this diverse environment. As a result, parents' attitudes can have an impact on their children's life; for example, some parents, even when aware of their children's sex-related interest, may purposefully refuse them suitable answers or altogether avoid them. The term perception refers to attitudes or habits that are supposed to be countered. Perception, according to Denga (2002), is the act of being aware of an object's attributes or relationships through the use of sense organs. According to Haggai (2000), the process through which we arrange and understand the pattern of inputs in our environment is called view. The process by which an individual employs his sense organs to turn the disparate stimuli of the environment into knowledge of things and meanings is referred to as perception. A pattern of consciousness is formed by the organization of personal, current, sensory, and previous experiences into a pattern of awareness that demonstrates the quality and interrelation of objects and meanings (Denga, 2002). The whole of a person's perspective of a situation is attributed to his attitude. A person's attitude determines whether he or she reacts favorably, indifferently, or negatively to a particular event (Mallum, 2000) Parental perceptions of sex education pertain to how parents view and respond to the necessity for sex education in junior secondary schools. A study of parents' attitudes toward sex education in junior secondary schools in the Ebonyi urban area is needed because it will reveal their level of awareness and the importance they place on this aspect of education. This will either lead to acceptance or resistance, requiring school administrators' support in redefining how sex education is introduced in Junior Secondary Schools. In Nigeria, children grow up sexually absurd, with distorted views of sex, according to Izugbara (2001). The denial of sex education, which primarily aims to provide accurate factual information and understanding of sex-related issues, may cause difficulties for adolescents and society as a whole. Furthermore, youngsters are unable to recognize the direction of societal development and are constantly entangled in a web of uncertainty (Malli, 2007). Our educational system, which is responsible for teaching our children about the changes that occur in their bodies and why they occur, is having difficulty since sex education is not taught as a subject in school. It's unclear what has delayed its implementation. Because the view of parents has not been ascertained, it is impossible to begin identifying tactics to promote sex education among Junior Secondary schools in Ebonyi urban region of Ebonyi State without truly knowing the cause of the lack of it. In this context, the researcher decided to investigate parents' attitudes toward sex education in junior secondary schools in Ebonyi city, Ebonyi state.

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