MOE throws sex education ball back to schools
Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 9:32AM The Ministry of Education (MOE) has finally released their revised guidelines for sexuality education programmes under external vendors, and have shunted the responsibility back to the schools. These revised guidelines are, in my opinion, not indicative of any major shifts in policy.
The vendors are also required to submit their policy statement on sexuality education. The statement must cover five areas, including homosexuality, abortion and pre-marital sex.
[...]Prior to the AWARE saga, schools had the autonomy to hire external vendors for their sexuality education programmes. But now, they will have to choose from a list that is vetted and approved by the ministry.
[...]Interested vendors will also have to demonstrate their track record and relevant experience in working with children and youths in sexuality-related areas.
The bid specifications state that the programmes are meant to augment school resources for sexuality education and not to replace sexuality education programmes in schools.
Bidders must also ensure that the teaching of facts is integrated with the teaching of mainstream values.
In addition, MOE wants students to understand and respect the attitudes, values and beliefs regarding sexuality in the context of Singapore's multi-religious and multi-racial society.
MOE will only allow schools to hire from their vetted list, and that is where their responsibilities end. The schools will have to take up the responsibility for sexuality education, and this is a double-edged sword, particularly in schools that have limited resources. If this is to be the case, MOE should have programme guidelines for schools who do not have those resources, or at least allow such a programme to be designed by vendors through a separate tender.
I'm also concerned with the use of "mainstream values" in the MOE statement. While it is important to be sensitive to different people and different backgrounds, this is also easily abused to further discrimination against gays and lesbians.
The finalised list of vendors, when MOE releases that, will be more indicative of their intentions.
Reader Comments (1)
Mainstream values? Maybe the govt should first send out a memo on what it considers mainstream because it's so subjective. I can't believe they're just hiding behind the guise of a term as vague as that. it's a cop out if you ask me.