Savithri Gunasekera, the Colombo University’s former Vice Chancellor, made an important statement recently. She said that lessons on child abuse, domestic violence and sex education should be made compulsory in school curriculums. “Some tend to think that it is not in our culture to discuss such matters, but educating children on these issues at school level will give them the information they need to keep them from harm’s way. We also now have a legal system which supports this,” she added. Prof Gunasekera also noted that adolescents acquired autonomy at 16 years of age, but there was little recognition of this fact in Sri Lanka.I believe Prof. Gunasekera has a valid point. Out of the three issues, this article concentrates only on the third, sex education. Unfortunately, as outdated as it may sound, it is still the belief of many that openly discussing sex and its ramifications will cause our teens to go astray. Is this a fact or a fallacy? When we think about the amount of sex that teenagers are exposed to each day- all of which is glorified, does it seem like a bad idea to at least provide them with the foundation, tools, and knowledge to help them make more responsible decisions?
Especially when we consider that given our own demanding schedules, and our aversion to the conversation itself, we often leave the youth questioning and looking for answers from the older kid across the street who has a ton of fancy theories of his own. These stories are likely to be believed by the gullible youth because they have never been taught or exposed to anything different.
Read moreIf we work as a collective community unit, balancing knowledge with morals, then we will ultimately be doing more good than harm. We will have laid the foundation for our teenagers to grow into adults with healthy self-images; well-informed and well-prepared not only for sex and the responsibilities that come along with it, but for the twists and turns that this “crazy so-called life” will undoubtedly throw at them.
Asian context
Take a look at what is happening in Asia. The state of sex education programs in Asia is at various stages of development. Indonesia and South Korea have a systematic policy framework for teaching about sex within schools. Malaysia and Thailand have assessed adolescent reproductive health needs with a view to developing adolescent-specific training, messages and materials. India has programs aimed at children aged nine to sixteen years. In India, there is a huge debate on the curriculum of sex education and whether it should be increased.
Attempts by state governments to introduce sex education as a compulsory part of the curriculum have often been met with harsh criticism by political parties, who claim that sex education “is against Indian culture” and would mislead children. Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan have no coordinated sex education programs. In Japan, sex education is mandatory from age 10 or 11, mainly covering biological topics. In China, sex education traditionally consists of reading the reproduction section of biology textbooks. However, some years ago, a new five-year project was introduced by the China Family Planning Association to “promote reproductive health education among Chinese teenagers and unmarried youth” in urban districts and counties.
Home or school
Undoubtedly, the ideal place for sex education is the home. Unfortunately, even the best of parents are sometimes uncomfortable discussing the subject with their children. They may delay, waiting until the child asks questions. Before they realize it, the optimal time has come and gone. The child will be questioning, all right, but perhaps the wrong people. All kinds of misinformation is passed unwittingly between friends in the same age group.
I know a few urban parents who bought decent books for their teens to read, believing that all the questions will be addressed and answered by the volume’s author. However, few teens these days are interested in reading as a leisure-time activity. The book may end up under the bed or lying unopened on a shelf in the closet. Even the best-written, most informative publication will do no good under these circumstances.
The alternative is then for the school to assume the responsibility of delivering it. The basic factual information should be supplemented by parental perspectives, and moral guidelines from home, but even if this is not the case, the young people will at least have sufficient information, to keep themselves disease-free.
Should sex education be left until secondary school? No, say the sociologists. In the Primary Grades a section of the Health curriculum, some part should introduce the children to the proper names for body parts and explain how a baby grows inside its mother’s uterus until it is ready to live on its own. This information would be presented within the context of a normal family, with textbook pictures of children with whom the students can identify.
In the Junior Grades, as the children approach puberty, the boys and girls should be separated and each group be given information as to what bodily changes they can expect to experience during the next few years, as they become young men and women.
In the Secondary Grade, again in separate groups, the students should be informed about physical changes their classmates of the opposite sex are undergoing. These lessons should be given in a matter-of-fact manner, using proper anatomical terms for the specific body parts involved.
If these preparatory lessons have been presented to the students from the Primary Grades on, the sex education of teens would only be a continuation of an earlier curriculum. They will receive it matter-of-factly and trust in its accuracy. It will be much more effective than if it were dropped on them suddenly, out of the blue. There should be no smirking, eye-rolling, giggling or other unseemly behaviours because these latest lessons are only a grade-specific unit of a subject they have studied since Grade One.
Pros and cons
Knowledge is power. The question is not whether teens should be exposed to a sensitive topic like sex so early in their lives. Rather, the question is whether not being taught about sex will help teens more in the long run. In two words, it won’t.
Without sex education, teens have little reliable information to go on: what they hear in play grounds and hallways is not sufficient. Furthermore, their curiosity about an unknown and culturally forbidden act, and the social pressures surrounding it, may influence them to make a bad choice. Curiosity can be a powerful, overwhelming emotion. Providing sex education in schools and eliminating that curiosity to some degree would be helpful.
However, there are pros and cons that must be considered by parents when dealing with sexual education classes that one would not have to consider with a less controversial topic such as math or reading. In general, a parent needs to be aware of his or her own family or religious beliefs and values and know their child’s intellect and maturity levels. However, there are disadvantages that can cause the validity and effectiveness of the material to be in question, and if it cannot be delivered effectively it should not be delivered at all. Some disadvantages might be: (1) students may still suffer from embarrassment or get excited by the topic matter.
This can cause for out-of-control classrooms if students take to giggling or making inappropriate remarks: (2) sex education is often viewed as a “recreational” course and not a serious subject (this is a direct correlation to the fact that there are no grades or scores to be derived from class): (3) teachers are not always trained how to properly teach sex education courses and may transgress their own beliefs or morals into the subject matter rather than stick with the facts: (4) the attitudes of parents, educators or religious leaders in the community can cause the subject matter to vary from province to province, or even school-to-school.
Sex education may be one of those topics that will always share a place on the list of debatable subjects that should or should not be taught to our children in school. It is important to remember both the pros and cons of this important subject and just how critical it will become in the later years of a child’s development.
Daily News by Lionel Wijesiri
