With reference to “Baby Dumping and Sex Education” (Ipoh Echo, March 1-15). Our country has been a dumping ground for rich nations of their plastic waste and garbage. Very recently, our elected government has been dumped by some racist, kleptocrats and corrupt politicians.
Now back to the baby dumping and sex education, one of the main causes of baby dumping is the lack of sex education and because of perceptions of society to the mother that leads them to abandon the baby.
Imagine, an innocent little girl who knows nothing about sex, who does not have the strength to fight back or the presence of mind to get out of the situation, her little body is brutally violated and her little world shattered by terror and unimaginable pain.
Therefore, in order to bring up children to be able to think and act independently, and to have the opportunity to be adventurous, the environment must be a safe one. The question now is, how safe are our children? Even religious (tafiz) school students are sexually abused. Your child wants to go and play with friends in the playground across the road; after what has happened to other girls and boys, would you give her or him permission to do so without worry?
Today’s children are aware of sex as a joy, but with limited sex knowledge. They would simply like to try out everything. As an educator, I strongly subscribe to the view that at some point between learning to walk and learning to drive, children need to be taught the facts of life.
Parents, even now, teach their children nothing about sex as their parents had never taught them. Besides, it would be too embarrassing. Therefore, the commonly accepted dictum is to keep our children innocent until marriage, then instinct will teach them.
Now, who is to be blamed for our children’s experiments with sex? If we want our children to have a responsible attitude towards sex, then we have to give them sex education.
It’s my dream that the future Education Minister should consider these facts of life and incorporate sex education into the school curriculum.
S. Sundralingam
