Mozambique: UNESCO strengthens sexual education for 30,000 pupils

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Mozambique: UNESCO strengthens sexual education for 30,000 pupils

8:19 CAT | 28 Aug 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

UNESCO will strengthen the sexual education of 30,000 pupils in two Mozambican provinces, providing information and skills that contribute to the prevention of early pregnancies, gender-based violence and HIV infections.

“The initiative is expected to benefit around 30,000 pupils, including more than 12,000 girls, by providing correct information and life skills that contribute to the prevention of early pregnancies, gender-based violence and HIV infections,” according to a statement from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

According to the UN agency, the initiative included the initial training of 132 school managers and subject delegates last week in the districts of Pebane and Mocuba, in Zambézia province, and Ilha de Moçambique, in Nampula, through the “Rapariga Biz” programme.

“The five-day training strengthened the participants’ skills to deliver quality, age-appropriate Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), both in the curriculum and in extracurricular activities,” she said.

UNESCO also said that the initiative was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Culture, provincial and district education directorates, teacher training institutes and partner universities.

“This partnership reinforces Mozambique’s commitment to promoting the health and well-being of adolescents and young people, [to] strengthen comprehensive sexuality education in Zambézia and Nampula,” he concluded.

Mozambique recorded more than 9,000 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) and 4,000 cases of domestic violence in the first half of the year, local authorities announced on 22 July.

In the whole of 2024, according to figures released last March by the government, Mozambique recorded more than 20,000 cases, the majority of which were cases of domestic violence against women.

In the first six months of the same year, the Mozambican authorities helped 616 child victims of early marriages to return to their families or to be placed in “alternative protection”, according to official figures.

According to a government report on the first six months of 2024, two provinces accounted for the majority of these reunifications of minors: Nampula (299) in the north and Manica (176) in the centre.

“Also in this context, 449 girls who were victims of early unions were reintegrated into school, out of a total of 336,” the document states, with Manica province leading the way with 204 cases.

Source: Lusa