Health minister wants sex education taught at school

Paper Edition | Page: 4

Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi has said that the Education and Culture Ministry should address the spread of HIV/AIDS by providing proper sex and reproductive health education for schoolchildren.

Nafsiah said on Wednesday that cooperation between the two ministries was important, because the Health Ministry could only prevent the rising prevalence of HIV/AIDS on the downstream by promoting safe sex, while the Education and Culture Ministry was responsible on the upstream for disseminating information to youngsters.

"The Education and Culture Ministry is also responsible [for] sharing adequate knowledge on morality, religion and ethics, while the Health Ministry is responsible [for] introducing condoms, providing health services and an even distribution of antiretroviral treatment [ARV] for patients," she said.

Last year, following her appointment as Health Minister, Nafsiah said she would promote condom-use to youngsters, which led to rallies by those who considered it to be promoting indecency among the country's youth.

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country continues to rise. A report by the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) disclosed that the rate of new HIV infections in Indonesia increased by more than 25 percent between 2001 and 2011.

"Our country has not yet been successful in combating the rising prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which is mostly transmitted through unprotected sex," Nafsiah said. "Most people who became infected were aged between 15 and 25. Therefore, [...] sex and reproductive education should be introduced before high school."

In November 2011, the ministry launched the Aku Bangga Aku Tahu (I am proud I know) campaign to improve the understanding of HIV/AIDS for people aged 15-24 years. Nafsiah pointed out that the campaign should also be supported by proper sex education at schools.

"With education, teenagers would have the mental toughness to say no to sex before marriage, unprotected sex and drugs."

Despite the fact that he once said it was unnecessary to teach sex education in schools, Education and Culture Minister Muhammad Nuh responded to Nafsiah's comments by saying that the new national curriculum to be implemented in July this year would integrate sex education within biology.

"Students will not only study reproductive organs [...] but also reproductive health and ethics [...] to prevent them from getting involved in sexual misconduct," he said.

He added that information about HIV/AIDS would also be covered in religion and civics (PPKN) subjects.

Nafsiah reflected that the integration of sex education within curriculum subjects would not be easy to implement.

"Most teachers still see sex as a taboo issue," Nafsiah explained. "When in fact, all people, including teenagers, deserve to be informed [about reproductive health] even though they are not yet married."

Nuh indicated that the ministry would offer training to teachers about integrating sex education in to their subjects and extra-curricular activities.

"Educational institutions should provide a private space for students to share their problems about this issue [sex]," Nuh stated. "There should be a commitment from the country's top officials to [set a good] example to the public."

(source; www.thejakartapost.com)