The petition: AWARE's comprehensive sexuality education

The petition

Dear parents,

We need your help – and your signatures!

Many of us are concerned about recent press reports about ‘comprehensive sexuality education’ (CSE) programmes conducted in schools by AWARE that endorse homosexuality and anal sex as ‘normal’ or ‘neutral’.

For example some statements from the current CSE programme (as reported in "Nothing 'sneaky' about elections", Sunday Times, 26 April 2009, Prime page 6) include:
• Anal sex 'can be healthy or neutral if practised with consent and with a condom'.
• 'Avoid using the term 'husband' and use 'partner' instead, so it is more inclusive. For example, 'homosexuals have partners, not husbands'.'

If you are concerned that such programmes have been brought into our schools, and taught to our children, we would like to invite you to join us in signing the letter (you will find it below).

We hope to send this letter, with all your signatures, to the good Minister for Education to express our concern about such programmes being actually conducted in our schools.
We are confident he will give it due consideration.

With your help, we hope that our children will get the best value-added education in our home we call Singapore. We also hope that we will all be able to work with our schools in the wholesome education of our children, not least of all in the area of sexuality education.

Thank you for your support!

K F Khoo (Mdm)

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To: The Minister for Education

Dear Sir,
We write to you as concerned parents.

We refer to recent reports in the press about AWARE’s ‘comprehensive sexuality education’ that has been conducted in no fewer than 12 secondary schools.

We do not wish to comment on the ongoing events in AWARE which we consider to be its internal matter. However we do wish to express our concern that its programme, which endorses homosexuality and has been reported to describe anal sex as ‘healthy’ or ‘neutral’, has actually been conducted in our schools. It is worrying to us as our children at that age are impressionable.

We are aware of the risks associated with homosexual practices, such as higher rates of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS among such groups, as seen in countries where homosexual practices are openly embraced. This is but one of the many concerns that we have about the endorsement of homosexuality in programmes that may be conducted in our schools.

We therefore humbly request that your ministry look into this matter and help address our parental concerns as follows:

• Can schools exercise greater care in bringing in sexuality programmes in future?

• Can schools inform us parents more accurately about the contents and values of such programmes that are conducted? To merely say that parents have been informed that a certain group is conducting a programme in the school is, in our opinion, inadequate. We shall be grateful if we could be informed about contents and thrust of such programmes first, in order that our consent given for our children to attend them is fully informed.

• Can schools develop programmes that engage us parents so that we can work together with them in the education of our children, especially so in areas such as sexuality education?

Thank you very much for your kind attention and consideration, and we look forward to working even more closely with your ministry in educating the future of our nation – our children.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/parents_sex_ed_appeal/

http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=27734.180