Cultural and Religious Barriers to Setting Up Sex and Relationship Education in a Muslim Country: A Case Study of Brunei Darussalam

Sex and Relationship Education (hereafter, SRE) - a comprehensive sex education has a long debate in the Western worlds. This study explores the cultural and religious barriers of setting up SRE in a Muslim country, Brunei Darussalam. Using semi-structured interviews, I focus on key informants’ and young people’s perspectives on teenage pregnancy for instance, the policy context of school exclusion due to teenage pregnancy. I argue that the negative perceptions of SRE are stemmed from cultural taboo and customary practices of the country. This further suggests that these practices impose stigma effects that represent persistent patterns of dissolutions in reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS transmission among young people. The other themes examine: perceptions of the respondents of the customary practice of social exclusion policy; positive and negative reactions to SRE; gender differences in sex and relationship; young people lack of knowledge associated with SRE; social issues associated with teenage pregnancy; attitudes toward NGOs; perceptions of the current school-based sex education and positive and negative attitudes towards SRE. This study also calls for pedagogical implications for future practice in the education sector. Finally, this study concludes with a brief discussion of the study.