Payment suggested for sex-education lessons

Press, 14 April 1980, Page 7

Payment suggested for sex-education lessons

Parents should be paid for taking sex-education lessons, according to the Family Life Education Council. This was one of the suggestions of a council statement attacking the decision of the Minister of Education (Mr Wellington) not to allow sex education in primary schools.

Dr Noeline Walker, a vicepresident of the council, and Mrs Nancy Sutherland, the president, criticised Mr Wellington’s statement .that the task of equipping children for responsible parenthood was for parents and the Churches.They asked how parents could pass on the information if they had not received it themselves.

“If we are going to cut across this cycle of ignorance and prejudice, let us include such instruction in the education system for the parents of tomorrow, and simultaneously, let us offer such comprehensive education courses to the parents of today,” said Mrs Sutherland and Dr Walker.

They suggested that as an incentive parents be paid for undertaking sex education. They used France as an example. There parents were given benefits to attend an ante-natal clinic and take their children for regular examinations during their first year. High attendance at the clinics had reduced thei incidence of death and

: handicap, resulting in the , Government’s having to ! spend less on special homes and facilities. The Family Life Education - Council is made up of delei gates ■ from organisations i concerned with children and i families in the fields of edu- ■ cation, medicine, and social service.

It aims to secure education in development and behaviour for all children below school-leaving age and also for those who deal with children, including judges, lawyers, and the police. Mrs Sutherland and DrWalker said that they deplored the lack of foresight

[and the inconsistency of Mr Wellington’s decisions. The Government had set up a Royal Commission on contraception, sterilisation, and abortion; it had also set up the Johnson Committee on health and social education. Mr Wellington had chosen to ignore the recommendations of his own committees w’hich said that sex education was a logical part of human development. Mrs Sutherland and Dr Walker said that preventive education was “irresponsibly inadequate.” The council proposed to prepare and offer a preventive education programme.