‘Church schools lacking in sexual health education’ – Labour MP

Church schools are not as receptive to teaching sexual health as private and state schools are, Labour MP Deborah Schembri said.

“While the 2010-11 sexual health policy is working well, a lacuna exists with regards the monitoring of sexual health education,” Schembri said in her parliamentary adjournment. “Although the national curriculum requires all schools to teach their students about sexual health under PSD lessons, the methods of teaching vary greatly across school.

“This means that we are at risk of ending up with a sector of society who are not trained in something that the Education Department considers to be a basic education requirement.”

She therefore called on the Education Department to start monitoring students’ knowledge on the physical, psychological and social aspects of sexual health.

She also said that doctors should be trained in how to deal with minors suffering from sexual diseases.

“Many people don’t know that minors with sexual diseases can already visit sexual health (GU) clinics without their parents’ permission,” she added.