Sex education? Now it’s to be taught by schools’ older pupils

IT is the delicate advice that parents carefully explain to their children when they feel the time is right.

But one Scottish school is now letting teenagers teach sex education to f ellow pupils through a controversial ‘mentoring’ scheme.

The project, which also involves a drop-in sexual health clinic where free condoms and pregnancy tests are offered, has been piloted by Kirkcaldy High School and is set to be rolled out across the rest of Fife.

Supporters yesterday claimed that the sex education policy will help to drive down teenage pregnancy rates.

But critics said it could encourage youngsters to become sexually active at an earlier age.

Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust said: ‘It would be premature to attribute the reduction in Fife’s under-16 conception rates to the introduction of a contraceptive clinic at Kirkcaldy High School.

‘Many parents will be deeply concerned about the prospect of contraceptives being given to their children on school premises behind their backs.

‘ There i s evidence that such schemes lead to some children becoming sexually active at a younger age than would otherwise have been the case.

‘ Providing contraception to school children under the age of consent is giving them the green light to flout the law and to experiment sexually.’

He added: ‘It is placing growing numbers of young people at risk of sexually transmitted infections and leaving them with emotional baggage that will make it more difficult for them to build a truly intimate, trusting and stable marriage in later life.’

S5 students are set to mentor pupils lower down the school from next term.

A sex and relationships education programme f or single - gender groups is also in place.

Data for 2012 shows that Fife has the highest pregnancy rates on mainland Scotland for under-18s and under-20s, at 33.7 per 1,000 and 48.4 per 1,000, respectively. In 2010, pregnancies among under-16s in Fife were recorded at 9.2 per 1,000, the highest in Scotland, but the rate fell to 6.6 in 2012 – the third highest figure in the country.

Derek Allan, the headteacher at Kirkcaldy High, said: ‘We set up the clinic because it was quite obvious from the 2010 statistics that young girls were not engaging with the services they were entitled to.

‘The school’s clinic offers them

‘Giving green light to the flout law’

the same service that any kids of 16 in Scotland can get, but we’ve taken away the barrier of having to go to a doctor or a hospital.’

Chief executive of the Children 1st charity, Alison Todd, said: ‘We know that on the whole what we’re doing at the moment is not working. You can see that from the figures.

‘What it seems like Kirkcaldy is doing is listening to children and young people and to what works in other countries, and trying something new and innovative to address the issue.

‘It’s also very clear that involving young people and children in decision-making is when you get the best solutions and t he best engagement.’ But a Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Scottish Government has not been involved in this initiative and there are no plans to roll it out across Scotland.’

Although teenage pregnancy in Scotland has fallen in recent years, recent data found that the national rate for under-16s remained the same in 2011 and 2012, at 5.6 per 1,000.

Tayside recorded the highest rate among under-16s at 7.8 per 1,000, while the Highlands had the lowest rate at 3 per 1,000.

Poorer teenagers are 12 times more likely to have a baby than more affluent counterparts, according to the NHS Information Services Division.

Only 725 of the 2,501 pregnancies in the poorest areas in 2012 ended in abortion, compared with 385 of the 534 pregnancies in the most affluent areas.