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I am Yeva, 20 years old.[br]

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I study at Yerevan State University,

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in the faculty of English language[br]and literature.

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Education has always been important to me.

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During my school years I enjoyed [br]not only the classes,

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but also the extracurricular activities.

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I liked all the subjects, [br]except for Math.

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There were subjects I didn’t give[br]much importance to,

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because the classes were really dull.

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One of them was Social Science.

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Both the book and the class were so boring

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and we never cared about the importance [br]of knowing

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one’s rights and responsibilities [br]as a pupil and as a citizen.

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This is what happened during [br]biology classes, too.

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Biology was interesting in general,

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but there was a session during the course [br]that was the most awkward one

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I had to attend during my school life:[br]the class of reproductive health.

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We were at 9th grade,

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when we had our first lesson of [br]the reproductive health session.

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The atmosphere was very tense.

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We spoke a bit about our physiology

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and quickly moved to menstruation [br]and nocturnal emission,

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though we didn’t talk much[br]about the latter.

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The teacher mentioned that menstruation[br]first occurs with the girls

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who have a bit bigger bodies.

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On that day I was sitting at the last desk

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and I promise I will never forget [br]the looks I got from my classmates

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as if I was the only girl in the world[br]to experience menstruation cycle ever.

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A few days later, when we hardly[br]recovered from the shock,

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the boys and girls in our class [br]were organized into separate groups:

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boys were taken to [br]the physical education teacher,

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while girls were sent to the nurse room.

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And she immediately started telling [br]about child delivery.

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I still remember the fear we all had [br]because she was talking about the process

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as if it is a scene from a horror movie.

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Up to this day I have a fear[br]of having a baby,

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just because of the way she was telling us[br]about the delivery.

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People may wonder why a young lady [br]like me would talk about this? [br]

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But I was the one, who was ashamed[br]and I was the one,

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who taught not to be ashamed of this.

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I was lucky to be in a project [br]called Y-Peer

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organized by World Vision Armenia[br]and the United Nations in Armenia.

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The project was about sexual[br]and reproductive health.

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So, they trained us to be trainers [br]and taught us the whole course.

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After a while, we started conducting[br]training sessions at schools

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and teaching all we knew.

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It took a week to see that [br]the project succeeded

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and there were pupils, who weren't ashamed

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to learn about their bodies[br]and talk about it.

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There are a number of important facts[br]about this topic. [br]

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One of them is that in July 2008,

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Healthy Lifestyle was added [br]to the subjects that are taught at school.

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But the law said the school principal [br]was in charge of choosing

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to teach the subject at school or not.

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And in January 2011 the subject was [br]already a mandatory one for all schools,

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there was a separate part of the course [br]called Sexual and Reproductive Health.

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The important point is that [br]it was supposed to be taught

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before the children hit the puberty,

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but when it was not taught properly[br]Armenians could find the solution:

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in girls’ cases it’s called

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“She’ll get to know about it when [br]she gets married”,

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while in boys’ cases it sounds like

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“He is a boy, he knows everything [br]about it”.

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In Armenia, it is always said that [br]the youth is our future.

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But what if our future is not going[br]to be healthy

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just because they are not aware[br]of their body?

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That is why, these training courses are[br]very important

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and they let you study your physiology [br]and know yourself thoroughly.

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This is not only for future mothers,

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this is for the physical and mental health[br]of every single one of us.

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The stereotypes that sound like[br]“A princess does not use the toilet”

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is quite the same when Armenian parents[br]think that their children

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aren't interested and don't need to know [br]about sexual and reproductive health.

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But obviously, both of the stereotypes[br]are wrong.

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The fact is that the subject is still [br]not fully integrated

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into our educational system.

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The first factor is that even the teacher[br]is ashamed to talk about the subject

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and so are the pupils.

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Another factor affecting it is that [br]

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the physical education teacher [br]and the school nurse

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are not much aware of the topic

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and they share either their own experience[br]or something they’ve seen in the movies.

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In fact, this is a huge issue [br]and it can’t be solved overnight,

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so we need to start with ourselves.

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As teenagers we need to feel free to talk[br]and to listen about this,

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and the teachers and parents should feel[br]free to teach us sharing their experience.

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Eventually, this will lead [br]to being educated,

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and being educated is never a thing [br]to be ashamed of.

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As an Armenian saying goes

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“If it is natural then it is appropriate”.[br]