Unrecognised unfulfilled : comprehensive sexuality education and information for adolescent girls with intellectual disabilities in Tanzania

Abstract

The Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of adolescent girls, including the right to comprehensive sexuality education, have been spelled out with increasing clarity and urgency by the Treaty Monitoring Bodies of international and regional conventions. However, adolescent girls with mild intellectual disabilities, who are a sizeable group, have often been marginalised or forgotten to the extent that they are not able to realise their right to Comprehensive Sexuality Education because of the barriers they face. They have to be identified and supported within an inclusive education system, which provides substantive equality within the classroom that enables them to continue in school at least until the end of primary school. Secondly, the school system has to provide a comprehensive sexuality education syllabus. This dissertation will look at Tanzania's international obligations to provide Comprehensive Sexuality Education to adolescent girls with mild intellectual disabilities and the extent to which it has fulfilled its obligations in policy and law and also in practice in the classroom before providing recommendations to the government, as well as other stakeholders on how to ensure that these often unrecognised groups can realise their right to Comprehensive Sexuality Education.