SEX education is to be compulsory for all pupils at the age of 15, schools chiefs announced last night.
Church schools will now have to teach youngsters about contraception and homosexuality - even if it goes against their beliefs.
Until now, parents had a legal right to withdraw children from the lessons. But Education Secretary Ed Balls stepped in to change the rules.
Kids of five will also be taught the "differences" between the sexes under the new Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum.
This is already done in most schools, but will now officially become part of the syllabus.
Compulsory sex and relationship lessons at 15 are a bid to cut the number of teen pregnancies.
Faith schools will not be able to opt out, but can teach topics within the "tenets of their religion".
Mr Balls said: "You can teach the promotion of marriage, you can teach that you shouldn't have sex outside of marriage, what you can't do is deny young people information about contraception outside of marriage."
The Terrence Higgins Trust said: "We often see the results of ignorance and poor education so we are glad the Government is tackling this issue."
But the Family Education Trust accused Mr Balls of "imposing his own agenda" on parents.
No comments:
Post a Comment