School-Based Sex Education as a Strategy to Empower Elementary School Students to Cope with Sexual Violence

Abstract

Background: Children are vulnerable to sexual violence, which can have devastating and long-lasting effects on their physical and mental health. Therefore, it is essential to provide them with early sexual education that will help them avoid such dangers. However, there is no formal and systematic program to prevent sexual violence against elementary school pupils in Indonesia, particularly in the city of Gorontalo.
Objectives: This study's objectives were to investigate the impact of school-based sex education on the self-help skills of elementary school students in the face of sexual violence. The study also intended to contribute to the development of effective and appropriate sex education materials for elementary school students in Gorontalo.

Methods: This study is a quantitative approach with a true experimental design. 200 fifth-grade elementary school pupils were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group received sex education on topics including puberty, reproduction, self-confidence, courage, communication, and sexual violence. The group serving as the control received no treatment. Using a questionnaire, the students' self-help skills in the face of sexual violence were evaluated. The Anakova test was used to analyze the data.

Result: Results indicated a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in terms of their self-help skills when confronting sexual violence. After receiving the sex education intervention, the experimental group had higher scores than the control group. This suggests that the sex education program had a positive effect on the students' capacity to assist themselves in situations involving sexual violence.

Conclusion: The study concluded that school-based sex education can enhance elementary school students' self-help skills in the face of sexual violence. The study also suggested that sex education should be incorporated into the curriculum and taught by instructors who are trained in interactive and participatory teaching techniques. This is the first study of its kind to examine the reduction of sexual violence against pupils in the Indonesian city of Gorontalo.

Keywords- School-based sex education, self-help, sexual violence, primary school students.