AWARE: Get facts on sex ed right

April 29, 2009

AWARE SAGA

Get facts on sex ed right

Ministry hasn't received any complaints about Aware's programme

By Amelia Tan
		Mr Iswaran (left) explained that while teachers deliver the core curriculum for sexuality education, schools have the flexibility to engage external agencies - including Aware - to run additional programmes for their students. -- PHOTO: BUSINESS TIMES

GET your facts right on what is happening in Singapore schools when it comes to sex education, and do not base comments on 'innuendo or information received on the fly'.

This advice, for those who have criticised the sexuality programme run by the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) in some schools, was given by Senior Minister of State for Education S. Iswaran on Tuesday.

MOE: No complaints from parents, Dr Thio WE REFER to recent claims and comments about the sexuality education programme in schools by the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware). Sexuality education conducted in Ministry of Education (MOE) schools is premised on the importance of the family and respect for the values and beliefs of the different ethnic and religious communities on sexuality issues. The aim is to help students make responsible values-based choices on matters involving sexuality. Read the full letter from MOE here.

Speaking after an event celebrating Yishun Town Secondary School's new autonomous status on Tuesday, he urged the parties in the Aware dispute to engage in 'responsible commentary' on the subject of sexuality education, as this is an important part of the school programme.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) takes a deliberate and cautious approach in sex education, he said, and its guiding principle is that the family is the basic building block of society.

Its guidelines, he said, were drawn up to help students make 'values-based decisions on this whole issue of sexuality and in a manner which is sensitive to our multiracial, multi-religious environment, because clearly, there are different perspectives in our society'.

Mr Iswaran explained that while teachers deliver the core curriculum for sexuality education, schools have the flexibility to engage external agencies - including Aware - to run additional programmes for their students.

But these extra programmes must abide by MOE guidelines.

The Aware sexuality programme for schools has emerged as one of the core points of contention between the organisation's new and old guard.

Last week, in giving her take on why some members of the group decided to mount a leadership takeover, senior lawyer Thio Su Mien - who described herself as the 'feminist mentor' of the new guard - said the Aware programme encouraged lesbianism and homosexuality.

She said the programme taught young girls from the ages of 12 to 18 that it is okay to experiment with each other. She talked to some parents about this, and they were flabbergasted, she added.

This had galvanised the members of the new guard into action, she said. On Tuesday, however, Mr Iswaran countered this view. He said the ministry had not received any complaints about the programme, and has had no reason to intervene thus far.

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