Activists are trying to stop gang rape in India by talking about sex

The Centre for Family Health Initiative aims to improve sexual and reproductive health for young girls by bringing educational programs into the schools and connecting students to important health services through primary health care providers. Its year-long education program, Dreams Girls, covers everything from puberty and menstrual health to STI prevention and discussions of consent. The program has been offered in 22 secondary schools so far and partly credits its success to building relationships with community gatekeepers who can help encourage community buy-in.

A program called RAPP (Relationship Abuse Prevention Program) uses safe spaces for teens to talk about their romantic relationships with both peer and adult leaders as a way to prevent abusive relationships through education. It is supported by New York City's Human Resources Administration, the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, Day One, and Steps to End Violence and Urban Resource Institute (URI). The program is now in 94 schools across the city, and participants / peer leaders testify to how much it changed their lives.

The United Kingdom’s teen birthrate is as high as 19.7 births per 1,000 women; one contributing factor is that sex education is not a requirement and can span only a day. Gnesta in Sweden offers a four to five week course on comprehensive sex education with a curriculum that makes the topic enjoyable, informative, and sensitive. As a result, the teen birthrate is only 5.2 per 1,000.

Vocational and technical education programs offer students the best of both worlds, giving them hands-on experience in career fields of interest while also requiring academic rigor in the classroom. In Massachusetts, which is currently expanding funding for schools to upgrade their facilities, enrollment in technical schools rose 24 percent over 15 years, with many schools requiring a waitlist for interested students.

The Urukundo Life Skills Board Game is an educational tool created by four medical school graduates to address widespread gaps in sexual and reproductive health knowledge among young people. The game creates a relaxed, peer-driven environment where teenagers can openly discuss topics like menstruation, pregnancy and relationships that are typically considered taboo. Since its pilot in 2022, the game has reached over 10,000 adolescents across all 30 Rwandan districts and four refugee camps.

InFocus provides high school students with a safe space to discuss mental health and the stigma and challenges that come along with it. The group, led by a mental health coordinator, also teaches students different ways they can improve their mental health.

New York City-based organization Civic Spirit trains educators who work in religious schools to teach American civics and history from an interfaith perspective. The nonprofit also hosts programs for students in which they work together to tackle a civic challenge.

Jewish Family Services (JFS) has been delivering the Child Abuse Prevention Program to local schools for 30 years. JFS presents the program at 150 area schools, curating age-appropriate presentations for each grade level. The program covers examples of safe and appropriate touching, as well as what to do if the child finds themselves in an unsafe situation and how to tell an adult.

The San Antonio Independent School District developed an app to help combat the Covid-slide among its students, including English Language Learning students. The app tracks interactions, class attendance, and completed assignments, but also correspondence and in-person interactions. Administrators took the data collected on its close to 50,000 students and developed strategies to direct special attention or make contact with students with decreased engagement. Out of 48,000 students, only 142 didn't have a contact log.

Due to the pandemic, university professors teaching field and lab work courses are rethinking ways to provide what was formerly a strictly in-person, hands-on experience. In New Hampshire staff at a marine laboratory are streaming virtual dissections and field trips to students, and geology instructors across the U.S. have developed online courses like “Orienteering in Minecraft” and “Geology of Yosemite Valley,” and virtual land surveying.