The youth can find sex education at their fingertips

TO ASSIST in teaching young people about consent and sexual health, the TEARS Foundation, believes in transparency in sex education.

The organisation aims to educate and empower youth to take a stand against gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide.

Despite the ongoing scourge of GBV in South Africa, the foundation says sex education remains elusive in many schools, creating a desperate need for intervention.

With the many taboos still surrounding sex, it is suggested that youth understand subjects like consent and sexual health.

Mara Glennie, founder and chief executive of TEARS Foundation, said: “There is currently a shocking lack of sex education available to South Africa's youth.

“While the material is provided to teachers in their life orientation syllabus, it is among a variety of topics they can choose from.

“With the many taboos still surrounding sex, most teachers shy away from the topic.

“It's not addressed by the parents and guardians either, leaving youth without the critical knowledge they need on topics like consent and sexual health.”

The foundation was created to enable and provide South African youth with sex education on their cellphones and assist users in making informed decisions about their sexual health.

“Last year, it was found that 10% of rape cases reported nationally stemmed from higher education institutions. If the youth are properly educated from an early age with tools like SPEAK UP®, we would hope to see a decrease in these numbers by providing them with the relevant information,” said Glennie.

SPEAK UP® is a digitally driven, age-appropriate and free education platform about topics such as the spread of HIV/Aids, teenage pregnancy and the occurrence of rape and sexual abuse.

Another national issue that it aimed to address was teen pregnancy.

“Watching a young, underage child turn into a mother is heartbreaking. Children need to be children, not birthing them.

“While the information is mostly aimed at young people and youth-led and youth-serving organisations, we hope that it will also be useful to other organisations, volunteers and activists who want to begin or strengthen advocacy around improving sexual education across the world,” said Glennie.