Phikwe councillors support sex education

ONALENNA MODIKWA
Staff Writer | Wednesday November 30, 2011 00:00

At a presentation by the Head of Curriculum Division in the Ministry of Education, Molaodi Menyatso, councillors said sex education is necessary towards exposing learners to accurate information on relationships and decision making.

Councillor Kosy Mashaba said sex education is necessary as students will automatically pass through a stage of sexuality that has challenges such as pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. He added that due to the economic hardships, some students engage in anti-social activities that eventually lands them into unpleasantries such as pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Councillor Lekang Mukokomani said sex education is about moral education and highlighted that in most schools there are huge numbers of school-going children who are already enrolled in the ARV programme mainly because they did not have a sound moral grooming.

He suggested that Batswana emulate nations like Swaziland where young virgins parade for unmarried men. He said this would ensure that girls maintain their virginity until marriage and keep them away from engaging in early sexual activities. 'It is not too late to start. Let us redress and correct the mistakes,' he said.

Councillor Leungo Mataio on the other hand blamed the Ministry of Education for the problem. She said if leaders who are supposed to be role models in the society cannot change their behaviour then there is nothing they can teach children. She argued that a good curriculum must identify talent and nurture it. 

Menyatso explained that the curriculum does not teach sexual intercourse but only teaches sex education. 'It is about gender. It teaches children about their sexual development.'

He said that sex education has always existed in the curriculum but referred to as reproductive health education.

Regarding the recent outcry by parents after a student was alleged assigned to come up with different sex positions by a teacher, Menyatso stated that the teacher had misinterpreted the book.

'We were even asked to remove sex education from the curriculum and we have since suspended it and withdrawn the content from the book,' he said, indicating that they later held a conference and decided that sex education in schools is appropriate. He added that sex education is mainly about teaching children about their reproductive development and sensitizing them about challenges that come along with it.

He said the subject seeks to change the mindset against serious challenges like HIV/AIDS. He further added that the senior secondary school curriculum is currently under evaluation after a realisation  that it is too theoritical and its output does not justify the budget. Recommendations were that it be more practical and vocational.  Its  content were also found to be congested. It was felt that 11 subjects are too many. 'We want it designed such that it develops talent and is market based and knowledge driven,' said Menyatso.