Secondary school teachers opinion about contraceptive practice and pregnancy among school girls in Port Harcourt, Nigeria: implications for family planning programmes
Briggs, L.A.
Malaysian Journal of Reproductive Health a Publication of the Reproductive Research Centre of the National Population and Family Development Board Malaysia 12(1): 1-9
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0127-3213 PMID: 12320335 Document Number: 388975
A survey of 240 of the 445 teachers at 12 all-female or coeducational secondary schools in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, revealed both negative attitudes toward contraceptive use on the part of sexually active teenage girls and high levels of misinformation about birth control methods. The mean age of teachers was 33.8 years; 57% were married. 57.9% were aware of cases of adolescent pregnancy in their schools; 55% supported school dismissal in such cases. 29.6% indicated their school had a family life and sex education curriculum; another 21.7% were unsure. 54.2% considered sex education to be the job of mothers. 52.9% of teachers reported they encourage contraceptive use among their sexually active female students; the remaining teachers opposed this practice due to possible damage to reproductive organs (24.5%), disapproval of premarital sex (20.9%), fear of encouraging sexual promiscuity (13.6%), side effects (11.8%), and religious reasons (5.5%). Recommended to prevent pregnancies among female students were sex education (48.3%), counseling and guidance (12.1%), family planning services (7.5%), religious and moral education (6.2%) and encouragement of abstinence (4.6%). Overall, 33.8% of teachers voiced the opinion that teenagers should abstain from sexual intercourse until marriage. These findings indicate that teachers in Nigeria have not come to terms with the changing norms surrounding adolescent sexual behavior. Moreover, they lack (as evidenced by the widespread misconception that birth control damages reproductive organs) the knowledge of contraception that would enable them to counsel their students about pregnancy prevention. Recommended are reproductive health education programs for Nigerian teachers as well as students.