Federation endorses plan to introduce sex education course in primary schools

KUCHING: The Federation of Boards of Management of Aided Chinese Primary Schools Sarawak supports the Ministry of Education’s plan to introduce sex education course in primary schools.

Its secretary general Jonathan Chai felt that it is timely to include sex education in the curriculum for primary schools in view of the alarming rate of sexual offences against children in the country.

“The growth in (sexual offences against children) cases may be driven by the rise of social media and a greater exposure to information technology.

“But the fact is that our curriculum is simply not keeping up,” he said when contacted here yesterday.

He was asked on recent comments by Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid that the Education Ministry had agreed to introduce sex education as part of the primary school level education.

Chai, who is a lawyer by profession, hoped that the recently enacted Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 would serve to curb the rise of cases of sexual offences against children.

He said under the law, all parties dealing with children including teachers are now duty- bound to report any person who commits sexual offences against children.

He opined that school teachers should also be given training to pick up the know-how and skills to handle untoward situations.

“Not only do children need sex education but teachers in primary schools also need adequate training on how to respond to incidents like this, and to review their own child protection procedures.

“It is incredibly dangerous to fail children at such a tender age. We need to ensure that enough resources are being channelled into education around this area, for both children and teachers,” he said.

Chai added that Malaysia needs to foster a culture through education that encourages children to assert their boundaries to both adults and their peers.

On Wednesday, Mahdzir said in Kuala Lumpur that sex education would be included in moral studies and Islamic studies as proposed by Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim.

Mahdzir was quoted by a national Chinese daily as saying that his ministry was in the process of engaging child experts to look into the implementation.

He was reported to have acknowledged the need for sex education in Malaysia but said the implementation should be done in a proper manner.

“It needs to be easily comprehended, cannot be overly complicated and yet cannot be too simple,” said the Education Minister.