Several life skills teachers from different schools explained that they always taught 

pupils that they should marry before engaging in sexual activity. However, they added, 

But teaching the child that and if he or she takes your advice [is another matter].  

Interestingly, one girl reported being taught nonbiological information about sex and 

pregnancy in her school.  

When I was in form 1 at [school], they taught us how to call a man when you want to 

have sex and how a man can call a woman if he wants to have sex. They also taught us 

how the womb opens during menstruation. . . They said you use body language and you 

caress the man. . . [Karen] 

Several teachers mentioned that representatives from sexual organizations visited the 

schools regularly to teach about reproductive health, but they didn't know the details.  From the 

girls' perspective, their education did sometimes include information on contraception and 

abortion. One girl described what she learned as follows: 

Yes, [I was taught about abortion]. They said when you go for an abortion they would 

raise your feet and light a torch into your womb, and they would open your womb and 

take out the baby. The teacher said when a woman is pregnant she does not know 

immediately, and that it takes some time for her to know she's pregnant. We were also 

told to insist on condoms. The teacher said sometimes the men would lie to us that they 

would not come in us, but by the time you realize he's come in you and it may give you 

problems. [Karen] 

4.3 Fertile 

Period 

The majority of the participants expressed the same understanding of the female fertile 

period. Bernadette stated it as follows:  

What I learned is that one has to wait five days after menstruation before going to a man 

if she does not want to be pregnant. But if one has sex soon after menstruation, then the 

person is likely to get pregnant. You can also get pregnant when you are menstruating 

and have sex. [Bernadette] 

The idea that one could get pregnant immediately before, during, and for several days 

after menstruation was widespread and was even taught in some schools, according to the girls' 

and two teachers' reports. One of the girls quoted above alluded to the womb being open during 

menstruation, and the following teacher from another school explained exactly what she tells 

girls about the fertile period:  

You, the girl, if you menstruate and you allow anybody to just have sex with you, it is 

likely you will get pregnant. You also tell them the menstrual cycle is the fertile time, and 

it is not as if you are encouraging them to engage in those things, but just to tell them so 

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