MOE tightens control on sex education delivered by external agencies

By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 21 May 2009 1907 hrs

Students in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Education Ministry is reviewing its sexuality education curriculum and tightening controls on the engagement of external agencies for these programmes in schools.

Previously, schools were given the autonomy to engage external agencies to teach sexuality education.

Now these agencies must be approved by the Education Ministry.

They must submit their materials to the ministry for vetting in June.

Approved agencies will be appointed by mid-August.

The ministry said sexuality education must be secular and reflect the values of mainstream society.

Abstinence is the key message but information on contraception must also be included.

Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen, said: “Our schools and educational institutions cannot become proxy battlegrounds for groups with contending ideologies. What we must stringently and strictly avoid is allowing our school to go the way in some other countries, for example United States, where different groups with different views try to square off and settle their arguments in schools. If we allow this to happen, our school and education system will be casualties and will be worse off.” - CNA/vm

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Analysts agree Singapore's political system will evolve to adapt to changing needs (myleadingleads.blogspot.com)