The Human Rights Commission proposes the institutionalization of sex education at all levels of education, in order to address the fragmented and inadequate coverage of this issue. The issue was examined by the Commission on Monday in the presence of the Minister of Education, Prodromos Prodromos, who argued that the training of teachers and the lack of educational material are currently obstacles to the inclusion of such a course in the curricula.
During the discussion, serious weaknesses that currently exist with regard to the issue of sexual education were highlighted, relating either to the offering of courses with optional biology and home economics electives in secondary education (while no such course is offered in technical education), or to the offering of information only in the context of the health education course in primary education, in which the chapter on sexual education is often omitted.
As the Minister of Education said during his intervention in the debate, the Health Education course includes a number of subjects, among which is sex education, but it was observed that for various reasons, teachers leave this chapter behind. It was considered important, he said, to start training teachers, while additional material is being created to strengthen this direction.
Responding to a question about the possibility of institutionalising a sex education course, the Minister said that this requires both the creation of appropriate educational material and the full training of teachers. "The curriculum is not something that is just written on paper," he stressed, explaining that a lot of preparation is needed for the implementation of such a curriculum, which may be discussed.
Prodromou informed the Commission about the number of teachers and managers who have been trained, and explained that the Pedagogical Institute provides continuous training and a new Teacher's Guide has been created, entitled "Say No". According to him, the aim of sex education is the social education of children in the current social context - so that they acquire the right consciousness on issues of self-esteem, self-awareness, self-consciousness, knowledge regarding both biological and social gender - as well as the development of skills so that children can fortify themselves against phenomena of sexual abuse and/or exploitation.
"But there is agreement that we need to intensify efforts, to further systematise training and to see how to introduce more systematic development of these skills," he concluded, adding that the Ministry is oriented towards the introduction of "skills workshops" in primary and secondary schools, for early information on puberty, biological and social gender issues, reproductive process - contraception, communicable diseases, etc.He added that sexual education is more difficult in high schools and technical schools, and said that a discussion should be opened at these levels.
In interventions by relevant bodies and agencies, however, it was pointed out that there is no monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the sex education programmes that have been running so far at the different levels of education, nor have children been interviewed to see how they receive this education. The representative of the PSEM said that students should have the opportunity to consult specialists on issues of concern to them, both during class time, during break and outside of school, while the representative of the OELMEK stressed that in high schools of 600+ students, two educational counsellors or psychologists are not enough.
The Chair of the Committee and AKEL MP, Irini Charalambidou, said in statements after the meeting that it is of utmost importance to educate children around healthy sexual relationships, homophobia issues and even issues of revenge pornography. "As a committee we raised the issue of institutionalising the sex education course, because we do not consider it sufficient to be taught as part of biology or home economics, which are optional and elective courses," she said, and conveyed the dissatisfaction of the committee members with the fact that particularly in technical schools there is not even a sex education course.
"There should be an institutionalized course from pre-primary to dismissal, with specific educational material that is specifically addressed to children of all ages, structured properly so that it can be appropriately assimilated by all children," he explained.
He also referred to multiple social factors that generate or intensify the psychological pressures on children and stressed that "we must provide all the necessary help to children who need it and we must identify them and not wait for them to ask for help on their own," which he said makes the mere two educational psychologists in each school inadequate. He also raised the issue of teacher training and stressed that "under no circumstances should personal perceptions enter into such matters" and pointed to the need to monitor lesson delivery and evaluate its effectiveness and impact on children.
Many times we emphasize excellence, to prove that a large percentage of students excelled or had academic results that reflect the success of the Ministry of Education. That is not the point, but through education to have healthy citizens. If we fail to teach an equation, it will not create such a serious issue. But if we have children who grow up feeling guilty because this system fails to develop their personalities, then you realize what level of education we are talking about. Yes to excellence, yes to developed personalities. One does not negate the other."
PPP MP, Alekos Tryfonidis, said that "times have passed us by and proper sex education is necessary for the healthy relationships that our children can develop," explaining that it is not enough to be educated only on the biological part of sex education.
"Other needs have been born out of the changing social structure, mindset and the role of technology in children's lives, such as sexual violence, revenge pornography, marriage, domestic violence, the LGBTI community, gender roles, contraception, consent, sexually transmitted diseases, human rights and the information young people get from social networks," she added.
"We support sex education because it is a multidimensional issue and ignorance or improper education poses problems for children," he said, adding that there should be a compulsory sex education course at all levels of education, even in technical schools, where it is currently not offered.
Ecologist MP, Alexandra Attalidou, said there is a big gap, since sex education courses are not compulsory, while in Technical Education they are not even available as an elective course. "EU research has found that teaching about the cognitive, emotional, social and physical aspects of sexuality can have a positive impact on the sexual and reproductive health of children and young people," she said, adding that Cyprus only approaches the biological aspect, but not issues on gender relations, gender rights, rape issues, health and HIV issues and everything related to sexual orientation and LGBTI society.
"We believe that a European state should finally both institutionalise sex education and train teachers to offer this lesson, not by choice, but as a compulsory skill that children should have," he concluded, especially at a time when we keep hearing about either rape or blackmail through social media platforms, where children are prostituted, he said.
Source: CNA
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