SINGAPORE: A foreign controversy, over a set of proposed
international guidelines on sex education, threatens to reignite
the debate that raged just six months ago over Singapore's own
sexuality education programme in schools.
The guidelines, scheduled to be released by UNESCO next
week, are aimed at reducing HIV infections among the young, and
will be distributed to education ministries and school systems
around the world.
But an earlier draft issued in June was attacked by conservative
and religious groups, mainly in the United States, for recommending
discussions of homosexuality, describing sexual abstinence as "only
one of a range of choices available to young people" – and even
suggesting a discussion of masturbation with children as young as
five, reported the New York Times.
When contacted by TODAY, a Ministry of Education (MOE) spokeswoman
said: "We will be studying the revised guidelines to see how useful
and relevant they are to the current review of Sexuality Education
in our schools."
Two civil society groups expressed contrasting views.
Ms Dana Lam, president of the Association of Women for Action and
Research (AWARE), felt UNESCO's guidelines affirmed AWARE's own
Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) programme, which was
suspended by the MOE in May.
Ms Lam said the UNESCO guidelines, which took an "evidence-informed
and rights-based" approach, offered "a sound, comprehensive
approach to sexuality education".
The emphasis "on relationships, values, attitudes, culture, human
development, sexual and reproductive health exactly matches the
emphasis" in AWARE's CSE programme, she added.
The latter was suspended after parents objected to the programme's
explicit content, and the MOE found it conveyed messages "which
could promote homosexuality or suggest approval of pre-marital
sex".
Going forward, the ministry signalled that sexuality education
should "adhere to social norms and values of our mainstream
society"; while Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said it should
encourage heterosexual married couples to have healthy
relationships and stable families.
Focus on the Family's senior vice-president, Mrs Chong Cheh Hoon,
was opposed to the UNESCO guidelines.
Apart from questioning their US-centrism and bias, she found some
of the content "highly inappropriate", such as teaching children
aged nine to 12 about basic contraception.
"This is like telling our kids not to smoke and yet providing them
with cigarette filters," she said.
In the material recommended for ages 12 to 15, the guidelines
advise the youth to practise safe and consensual sex "if sexually
active". But, Mrs Chong countered, this was inconsistent messaging
– since countries like Singapore have statutory rape laws covering
those up to age 14.
UNESCO experts have been working on the guidelines for two years,
reportedly drawing on more than 80 studies of sex education. But
conservative flak has already caused one of the project's key
participating agencies, the United Nations Population Fund, to pull
back, said NYT.
UNESCO has defended its guidelines as "evidence-informed and
rights-based". Its guidelines also argue that sex education helps
to delay the onset of sexual activity, reduce the number of sexual
partners and unprotected sex.
"In the absence of a vaccine for AIDS, education is the only
vaccine we have," said Mr Mark Richmond, UNESCO's global
coordinator for HIV and AIDS.
He added that just 40 per cent of youth aged 15 to 24 "have
accurate knowledge" of how the disease is transmitted.
- TODAY/so