MOE rebukes Dr Thio Su Mien’s claims about sexuality education in schools

MOE rebukes Dr Thio Su Mien’s claims about sexuality education in schools

The Ministry of Education has issued an official statement on its website today in reply to recent comments and claims about AWARE’s Sexuality Education Programme in Schools.

The sexual education programme started in 2007 and has reached about 12 secondary schools, run for small groups of students selected by their teachers to attend. To date 500 students, mostly girls, have attended the workshop, which comprises two three-hour sessions. It was only recently offered to boys.

The schools that engaged AWARE found that the content and messages of the sessions conducted were appropriate for their students and adhered to guidelines to respect the values of different religious groups. The schools did not receive any negative feedback from students or parents who attended the workshops and talks.

In particular, MOE has also not received any complaint from parents or Dr Thio Su Mien, who was reported to have made specific claims about sexuality education in our schools. MOE has contacted Dr Thio Su Mien to seek clarifications and facts to substantiate her claims. (read full release here)

Dr Thio revealed during a hastily-arranged interview by the new AWARE Exco last week that she was concerned about the neutral stance adopted by Aware’s comprehensive sexuality education programme (CSE) in schools towards homosexuality. (read article here)

This has led her to email fellow members of her Church and friends to join AWARE to change its direction:

“Aware is a woman’s organization which conducts comprehensive sexual programmes for girls and it runs this programme in some of the schools. They encourage girls to express their full sexuality and this includes experimenting with other girls. It would be a good idea to join it and change its focus to other problems of women and families.” (read rest of email here)

In her conversations with parents, she insinuated that AWARE’s sex education programme may lead to the promotion of same-sex marriages as an acceptable social norm in Singapore:

‘I started thinking, ‘Hey, parents, you better know what’s happening,” she said.

‘I talked to parents. I said: You better do something about this, otherwise your daughter will come back and say, ‘Mum, I want to marry my girlfriend.’

When pointed out that Aware’s programme was already in 30 schools, she said: ‘The suggestion is that in this programme, young girls from 12 to 18 are taught that it’s okay to experiment with each other.

‘And this is something which should concern parents in Singapore. Are we going to have an entire generation of lesbians?’

There is an obvious discrepancy between Dr Thio’s personal observation and the official release from MOE. If there are parents concerned about the programme, why didn’t MOE receive any complaints from them or Dr Thio in particular?

Senior Minister of State for Education S Iswaran also said there are guidelines in place for sexuality education programmes in schools and no parents have complained so far. (read article here)

He urged parties involved in the AWARE saga to get the facts right, before commenting on such programmes in schools. (read article here)

As a senior lawyer with many years of working experience, Dr Thio should have substantiated her claims before hurling unfounded accusations at the old AWARE exco for promoting a homosexual agenda.

Dr Thio’s original assertion about the CSE which prompted her to email fellow Church members to launch a takeover of AWARE is therefore both flawed and misinformed since no parents share the same sentiments as her.

We cannot have our school programmes being maligned and hijacked by scheming individuals to serve their own personal agenda which will undermine the public trust and confidence in Singapore’s education.

Dr Thio could have written to MOE to express her reservations about the programme if she is really troubled instead of airing her own personal views in public without concrete evidence to back them up.

MOE should consider taking appropriate legal actions against Dr Thio if she is unable or reluctant to produce a reasonable explanation for her words.

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