Adolescent issues are of particular concern for Pakistan as 63% of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 25. Young people desperately need information about their bodies and yet they lack avenues for obtaining this information. Due to the taboo nature of the subject, parents are often uncomfortable with, or unwilling to, discuss sensitive issues with their children, including basic information on puberty and development. It is essential that adolescents start to receive more information in order to develop comfort with their bodies, eradicate myths and misconceptions, and protect themselves from infection, dysfunction, unwanted pregnancy and violence.

Though the national curriculum has made some headway in incorporating life skills based education, a great deal of it is to be taught as an extra-curricular subject, which often gets overlooked by teachers due to lack of time. In rare cases where sexual health content is being prioritized, teachers are not taught the skills and do not have the comfort necessary for teaching such a sensitive topic.

Child sexual abuse also remains common in Pakistan. When children are not educated about their bodies or their rights they are left vulnerable to abuse. The taboos, guilt, and shame associated with sex and sexuality can make children reluctant to discuss any incidents of abuse. Caregivers also often ignore incidents of sexual abuse as they are unsure how to deal with it. This leaves children with no one to turn to for support.

In order to promote Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) education, Aahung aims to use multiple strategies. First, Aahung aims to advocate with the Department of Education (Sindh) to include information about body parts and processes and infection prevention into the teaching programmes of government schools. This can involve Aahung working with text book developers to ensure that the content in secondary school biology text books is accurate and culturally appropriate. In order to address the lack of comfort and skills of teachers to provide sexual health information, Aahung will work with school teachers of public and private school networks to build their capacity on issues of sexual health that relate to adolescents. Teachers will be sensitized on the need for providing adolescents with vital information concerning their body, as well as the importance of skill building in adolescents so that they can lead a healthier and safer life. Finally, since the primary focus of Aahung’s work on ASRH over the past ten years has been with school-going children, Aahung aims to develop and test strategies to widely disseminate information on reproductive parts and processes with non-school going children.

To promote the prevention of child sexual abuse, Aahung plans to sensitize mental health professionals, caregivers, and teachers so that they can empower young people to protect themselves from abuse.

The City School (P.E.C.H.S)      
The City School (P.E.C.H.S)
The City School (P.A.F Chapter)
P.E.C.H.S. Education Foundation
Aga Khan School (Garden)
Aga Khan School (Kharadar)
Aga Khan Higher Secondary School (Karimabad)
The A.M.I. School
Little Genius Grammer School (Malir)
Habib Public School
Karachi Grammar School(Clifton)
Karachi Grammar School (Saddar)
Creek High School (IBM Campus)
Happy Home School (Gulshan Campus)
ABSA School & College for Deaf (D.H.A)
Happy Palace Grammer School (F.B. Area)
Qamar-E- Bani Hashim School (Malir)
Foundation Public School (Hyderabad)
KN Academy (Malir Cantt)
Bayview Academy