Published: Saturday October 31, 2009 MYT 4:08:00 PM The Star Online

Sex education in schools needed for studentss safety

KUCHING: Sex education should be introduced in schools to increase awareness and ensure the personal safety of children, Assistant Minister in the Chief Ministers Department Fatimah Abdullah said. She said sex education was currently not taught on its own, with only parts of it included in other subjects like biology or physical education. To me this is not sufficient. If we want to achieve the objective of increasing awareness and personal safety, more has to be done, she told reporters after opening a seminar on Training Our Children on Personal Safety at the Islamic Information Centre here Saturday. However, she said pragmatic measures were needed to teach schoolchildren on sex and personal safety as it would be difficult to introduce a new subject into the already-crowded school syllabus. I like what the Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) has done in collaboration with the Womens Bureau to hold seminars on empowering children and educating them about personal safety. At the end of the day, our children have to learn how to keep safe, she said. In addition, Fatimah said sexual education needed specially trained teachers to teach it as the subject was still considered taboo in the Malaysian cultural context. Training is important to enable them to de-sensitise the topic so that truthful and fruitful discussion can take place. The teacher must also be empathetic and not judgmental while being able to gain the trust of the children, she said. The one-day seminar was organised by SWWS, Womens Bureau and state Social Development and Urbanisation Ministry for school students, parents and non-governmental organisations. Meanwhile, keynote speaker Datuk Dr Chiam Heng Keng said research had shown that more Malaysian teenagers were now sexually active. We did a study some time ago and the number of students actively involved in sex was pretty high, about 30-odd percent. This figure also includes girls who were raped on dates, so its not all consensual, she said.

Dr Chiam, a member of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), said peer pressure and lack of strong family relationships were among the factors influencing teenage sexual activity. She said the study also found that most of the sexual activity took place at home rather than outside. This is where parents must be very careful. When their children bring friends home to study, parents should not allow them to go and study in their room, she said.

http://www.cyberessays.com/Term-Paper-on-Should-Sex-Education-Be-Introduced-To/2593/ Retrieved on 12/3/2011 at 9am

Should Sex Education Be Introduced To Schools In An Attempt To Curb Problems Such As Teenage Pregnancy?
There is no reason why sex shouldnt be regarded as a shool- subject like mathematics, literatureMost of adults knows the importance of sex in human kinds spiritual life, but do they recognize the postitive role of sex education at school in attempt to curb problem such as teenage pregnancy? The following reasons will show why sex should be introduced to schools Firsly, pupils are human beings, adults-to-be, so they obviously have the right to know how their physical bodies work. They themselves are their own bosses, therefore, its necessary to understand their body-machines to control them properly. If they get sex education at schools, they will learn in a right way to be sex-knowledgeable adults. Then, they will be aware of themselves, know the best things for them as well as recoginise serious results of sex. Secondly.at the age of schools boys and school girls, they have complicated and curious characters, therefore, adults should help them know much more about sensitive problems like sex.They tend to imitate adultss behaviours to prove they are already adults,too. In that way, they will give themselves the right to be curious about sex. They want to explore or try to know what sex is, how sex is, and why adults can do as well as understand well while they cant. This is also the main reason for teenage pregnancy according to a recent survey. And this reason may refer to a proverb Curiosity kills the cat, thus, No curiosity, no cat killed. Let children reveal the mystery of sex naturally and openly in their own schools to help them lead healthy lives with sex. The opponents of sex introduction to schools may say that if we introduce sex to schools, we unintentionally encourage children to desire for sex. Its absolutely wrong. Man usually doesnt like or want to explore anything he knows much or clearly. Man is often killed of his curiosity. If sex becomes familiar things, children dont have to try to understand secretly. As a result,...

http://www.helium.com/items/983369-should-teens-have-sex-education-in-schools Retrieved on 12/3/2011

by Andrew Post
April 08, 2008 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. Teens need to be taught about sex so as to be forewarned about all the risks and dangers associated with it: unplanned pregnancies and venereal diseases, for example. Getting a good, firm grounding in sex education would be better for teens in the long run; knowing the risks may not discourage them from having sexual relationships, but at least they will have that knowledge and will make more informed decisions. Without sex education, teens have little reliable information to go on: what they hear in locker rooms 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. Some would argue that sex education is something best learned in the home instead of school. It's believed that parents are better able to communicate the intricacies of an issue like this to their children on a personal level. That may be true. It also may be true that children are less likely to listen to their parents than a complete stranger, especially rebellious teens who dislike it when they perceive their parents to be "meddling" with their lives, or "lecturing" them. If, however, they are forced into the classroom and have the plain facts about sex presented to them in an academic format, they may be slightly more inclined to take what they learn to heart. The proposed detriments of teen sex education are known to most: that teens will be needlessly exposed to something they just don't need to know about, something that might warp their minds or give them unhealthy ideas. It's something that many feel teenagers are not old or mature enough to handle. That is a valid argument. However, it's just as valid to say that teens certainly cannot and should not have to handle unplanned pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases. The risk of those unfortunate events increases when teens are supplied only with schoolroom rumors about sexual relations from their classmates and not with scientific and medical facts from adults and professionals. With the proper amount of moderation, and an emphasis on the hazards of casual sexual relations instead of its few positive attributes, teen sex education can be administered safely and successfully, largely without any warping or harming of young minds. Ignorance may be short-term bliss, but in the long term, knowledge is still power.

Should teens have sex education in schools?

by Rebecca Scarlett
June 01, 2007 Should there be sex education in schools? In recent years in Canada, there has been more sex education in schools, and the teen pregnancy rate has been dropping. That's right, dropping. The rate of STD's among young people, while still higher than older age groups, has been dropping as well. Teenage pregnancy is still a problem, however, in Canada and many other countries. In our North American society, teenagers have not completed the level of education required to get a job that will allow them to support children, so when they do have children, it is a drain on either their parents, the welfare system, or charities. Why does sex education help lower teen pregnancy and STD rates?
Many teens end up pregnant because of misconceptions about sex. If they don't recieve accurate information, they rely on rumors and we end up with situations where girls believe they can't get pregnant the first time, or they even believe it when their boyfriends tell them "don't worry, this isn't sex"! There are also many girls who end up pregnant because their religion is against birth control. That religion is against premarital sex, too, but many teens seem to feel less guilty if they are only committing one sin. Unfortunately this can result in an unwanted baby whose parents are unable to care for him/her. A good sex education program will teach teenagers that yes, you can get pregnant the first time, with the girl on top, during menstruation, or if you rinse with cola afterward. (These are all pregnancy prevention myths that are out there!) A good sex education program should also teach ways to cope with hormones and abstain from sex if that is a teen's personal choice, whether due to religion or other reasons.

Let's not kid ourselves: sex is a powerful force and this starts in the teen, or even pre-teen years. Many self-esteem issues revolve around sex-related issues. We should be teaching our teenagers that they are more than their genitalia. Girls should not feel that the only thing valuable about them is their virginity, and that if they choose to have sex they are worthless or have "thrown their life away." Women are intelligent beings who have so much more to offer the world than an intact hymen, and putting so much emphasis on virginity teaches girls just the opposite. Boys, too, need to know that they are more than the just the sum of the girls they have bedded. If a boy chooses to wait for "the one" or for marriage, he should not feel that others will judge him as being a loser, and he should not feel less of a man. Good sex education programs can teach teenagers that, although whether or not to have sex is a choice that deserves lots of thought and consideration, it does not define who they are. With all the confusing thoughts and feeling surrounding sex, and with all the adolescent hormones virtually ensuring that teenagers are obsessed with it, they need a safe outlet to explore those thoughts and feelings without being judged. They need a place to ask questions and get adequate answers, and unfortunately, many parents are not prepared to provide that atmosphere, due their own hang-ups about sex. If teenagers can't get their answers in a classroom setting, you

can bet they'll be more willing to do "field work" to find out! And while there are many things that are learned best by doing, pregnancy and STDs don't fall on that list of subjects!