We have been involved in sexual and reproductive health educational activities for the past two decades. Today, the project reaches thousands of students in nearly 850 schools as well as youth who are no longer in school. A majority of these young visitors had, if any, very little knowledge about sexuality and reproductive health. Findings of a survey undertaken in 1986 corroborated these observations.
Concerns related to youth reproductive health are serious and call for an urgent response.
Since most youth are in schools, we decided to bring information on reproductive health to them in the schools. Thus the beginning of the Reproductive and Sexual Health Education project says Dr Sriani Basnayake, the founder of the project. This project, started in 1992, is the first effort in bringing reproductive and sexual health education to the schools in a systematic manner. Cultural sensitivity prevailing in Sri Lanka only allows for a programme which is exclusively an educational activity. As such, no service component was included.