Challenges in Accessing Reproductive Health Education among Female Students in Public Secondary Schools: A Case of Magu District, Tanzanias

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-705-7_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Reproductive health education; Adolescent pregnancies; Female students

Abstract

Despite the Tanzanian government's efforts to enhance reproductive health education through policies such as the National Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Framework and Comprehensive Sexuality Education, adolescent pregnancies remain prevalent in Magu District, Mwanza Region. This study examines the challenges female students face in accessing reproductive health education in public secondary schools in Magu District, Tanzania. Guided by the Social-Ecological theory, the study employs a parallel, convergent mixed-methods research design. Data were collected from 144 female students, 4 form four Biology teachers, 4 school heads, and 1 District Secondary Education Officer through questionnaires and interview guides. Data from questionnaires were analyzed using frequencies and percentages, while qualitative data underwent thematic analysis. Findings reveal that a large number of female students agreed and strongly agreed that factors such as family's religious belief, society values, lack of support from the parents, and limited time allocated to teach reproductive health education affect how female students receive or inquire reproductive health education in Magu district. Addressing these challenges requires stronger policy implementation and enhancement of community engagement. Strengthening these aspects can help reduce adolescent pregnancies and promote the overall well-being of secondary school female students in Tanzania.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Bahiya Abdi
AU  - Asha Ulomi
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/13
TI  - Challenges in Accessing Reproductive Health Education among Female Students in Public Secondary Schools: A Case of Magu District, Tanzanias
BT  - Proceedings of the FIREtalk Conference - Research on FIRE! (research-on-fire 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 7
EP  - 24
SN  - 3005-155X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-705-7_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-705-7_2
ID  - Abdi2026
ER  -