So said Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) Chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim who suggested that sex education be taught during Islamic Studies and Moral Studies periods in secondary schools.
“Islamic & Moral Studies are allocated more time than Science and Maths put together, yet society’s moral standards have been declining.”
She added that parents and the community had also failed in raising their children with high moral values.
“A solution is for the parents, schools and the community to work together in engaging students in activities which are educational, productive and challenging.
“Students are an asset to society but they require adult guidance and supervision.”
She was commenting on Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Chew Mei Fun’s statement that the issue of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) could no longer be cast aside and should be widely discussed as it was affecting adolescents in the country.
According to Bernama, the statement came after Perspective Strategies Sdn Bhd’s survey findings revealed that many women, between the ages of 18 and 29, were still clueless when it came to SRH.
Speaking to FMT, Noor Azimah said that students should avoid sex before marriage, as was propagated by all religions “for obvious reasons”.
FMT also asked several mothers to share their opinions on the findings of the survey and whether they felt that sex education should be taught in schools or at home.
Warda Reza, 43, who lives in Sri Gombak, said that she had always believed that sex education was important but agreed that it should only be taught by the parents as she had lost faith in the country’s education system.
“Sex education is important to save the children from getting pregnant out of wedlock, but teachers jangan (don’t)! They won’t know what they are saying.”
On the other hand, Fatimah Abu Bakar, 60, who lives in Selayang, believes that both parents and teachers need to play a part in teaching students and children about sex education.
“It’s important if they don’t have any knowledge at all, like the study claims, and if that’s the case then both parents and teachers need to play their role.”
Muzaina Ghaffar, 50, who lives in Shah Alam, believes that sex education has only become important in recent years but that caution should be exercised since sex education had its “pros and cons”.
“We didn’t need sex education in the past,” she said. “Even my parents didn’t talk about it to me those days. Perhaps it’s because we didn’t think about it that much.
“Now, however, there’s a boom in information from the Internet and they (children) can get misguided.
“In today’s world, there may be a need for sex education but, at the same time, religious values need to be instilled in students so they don’t go astray.
“So I believe it is necessary for the children to get correct information regarding sex, but caution must be exercised because it can lead to sex before marriage, like it has in the Western countries.”
READ MORE: Shocking! Many females clueless about sex, pregnancy