‘Sex education needed in schools’
KUALA LUMPUR: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will engage the Education Ministry soon on how to introduce sex education in schools.
Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh said records showed that nine per cent of students in remove classes nationwide were sexually active.
She said she would meet Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching in the near future to facilitate the talks.
“For now, all quarters should cooperate and share ideas on how to tackle sexual problems among students.
“Nine per cent of students from remove classes being sexually active is a huge figure,” she said at the closing of a forum on child abuse at the Royal Malaysia Police College here.
She said the meeting between her ministry and the Education Ministry could lead to a solution in ensuring that schools implemented sex education.
She said failure to educate children on sex and leaving them to learn for themselves through social media could ruin them.
“In this modern age, those as young as 13 already know about sex, but they need to be given the correct information.
“As such, sex education is important to deliver the right message to our children.”
Meanwhile, Yeoh said studies showed that mothers formed the majority of abusers in child abuse cases in Malaysia, with 7,564 cases recorded between 2013 and last June.
She said 5,012 cases where fathers were the abusers were also recorded.
“This is shocking as mothers are supposed to be close to their children.
“Although existing laws are enough to tackle child abuse, prevention is the best approach.”
Yeoh said the ministry was working with various agencies and non-governmental organisations to gather ideas on the best way to tackle the problem.
She said her ministry, together with the Prisons Department, courts and police, were devising a system to perform online screening on those who worked with children, or those who planned to.
The system, she said, was expected to be finalised by the first quarter of the year.