Sexuality education

This letter was sent to ST Forum but was not published.

I refer to Ms Angeline Wong Hui Wei's letter ("Based Sexuality Education on facts, not opinions",http://www.straitstimes.com/premium/forum-letters/story/base-sexuality-education-facts-not-opinion-20150225 25 Feb)

Sexuality education is a process of acquiring knowledge and skills, and forming attitudes, beliefs and values with regard to human sexuality.

The MOE Sexuality Education helps students understand the physiological, social and emotional changes they experience as they mature, develop healthy and rewarding relationships, and make wise, informed and responsible decisions on sexuality matters. Sexuality Education covers the following dimensions of a person’s sexuality:

• Physical: Physical sexual maturation and intimacy, the physiology of sex and human reproduction;
• Emotional: Sexual attitudes and feelings towards self and others;
• Social: Sexual norms and behaviour and their legal, cultural and societal implications; and
• Ethical: Values and moral systems related to sexuality.

Issues of sexuality would involve value judgments. Parents as the primary care-givers, are responsible for the health and moral values of their children.
The adjective 'moral' is concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour.

Under the Singapore Law, it is illegal to have sex with a person under the age of 16 with or without the minor’s consent. Sex with a person below 16 is called “Statutory Penetration of a Minor Under 16″, S376A, Penal Code. If the minor is a girl below 14, the offence is called statutory rape.

Is it morally right to engage in underage sex when there is a law in place to protect our young?

What is wrong with delayed sexual activity before marriage? Our children and youth grow up in a rapidly changing world where globalisation and technological advancements expose them to a wide range of influences from around the world. Sexuality education helps them to be equipped to protect themselves from sexual advances and abuse, and avoid sexual experimentation and activities that lead to problems related to teenage pregnancies and STIs/HIV. 

Ms Wong has shared her personal opinions advocating for underage sex, preferred use of contraceptives rather than abstinence and her interpretation of morality which does not help our young to consider the dire consequences of underage sex.
As she has shown in her opinions, no one person can be void of opinions when implementing sexuality education simply because we are humans. As such, vendors affliated to any faith or not is irrelevant as long as they adhere to these conditions:

• External provider’s philosophy is aligned to MOE’s stand and policies on Sexuality Education.
• External provider does not preach their or any religious stand in the sexuality education programmes that they conduct.

Not enough credit given to teaching abstinence

ACCORDING to the article on Feb 9 ("Teen births drop to 20-year low"), over the years, the number of babies born to teenage girls aged 19 and below has dropped significantly, along with the number of abortions by girls aged below 20.

With no statistics given for the causes, the reasons cited for the drop include using contraception to prevent teenage pregnancy.

Practising abstinence before marriage was not proposed as one of the factors contributing to the drop, as if it were an impossible task for our teenagers.

One of the key messages of sexuality education by the Ministry of Education is practise abstinence before marriage, as it is the best protection against sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies.

Casual sex can harm and hurt the teens and their loved ones. Therefore, only by practising abstinence before marriage can teenage pregnancies and abortions be ruled out.

As an educator who has worked with children and teenagers for 15 years, I feel we tend to underestimate our young people's capacity for self-control.

Thus, we tend to promote contraception rather than abstinence. It is no surprise that an increasing number of teenagers think that it is normal for them to have sex ("Underage sex more common, say social workers"; Feb 9).

My experience has shown that youth who are taught abstinence before marriage from a young age, and have also been given much family support, learn the value of loving themselves by not engaging in premarital sex.

Therefore, we should inform, encourage and support our teenagers in practising self-control. After all, it is a virtue that can take them far in life.