Guam Sex Education Snapshot
Sex education is provided through required health education in Guam schools. Beginning in grade 9, students in Guam learn about “Family Life and Human Sexuality.” The School Health Education Program of Guam addresses the “prevention of risk behaviors,” including “sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy, HIV infection, and other [STDs].” The program’s goal is to “improve educational outcomes in Guam’s schools.” In the Guam Department of Education K-12 Content Standards and Performance Indicators, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV are mentioned in Content Standard 1: Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
Over the past few years, sex education advocates and health providers have worked hard to develop culturally relevant and responsive resources for the indigenous populations of Guam. In 2017, a new teaching resource entitled Navigating Personal Wellbeing & Sexuality: A Facilitator’s Guide for Working with Chuukese and Chamoru Communities was published by health providers, professionals from the Office of Minority Health Resource Center, cultural advisors, and sex education researchers to serve as a guide for educators in providing culturally responsive sex education curriculum.
State Profiles provided by SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change. For more information regarding your state’s sex ed policy, visit https://siecus.org/state_profile/u-s-outer-territories-state-profile-23/
