Ministry lashes out at condom give-away

THE Ministry of Education has lashed out against the distribution of condoms to school children. It will not sanction or support it, the ministry said in a statement yesterday. But if it were to ever agree that school children should be given condoms, the ministry said, it would prefer parents take on that responsibility.

The ministry’s disclosure came in the wake of the continued public demonstration to school children of condoms’ use by the lobbyist group — Advocates for Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (AYSHR). The group’s latest activity stirred much attention at the new National Library in Port-of-Spain among scores of young school children attempting to catch a glimpse of the group demonstrating the use of the condom. The group has vowed to escalate its lobbying for Government’s sanction to allow free condom distribution in schools for promoting safer/healthier sex. But the ministry yesterday, though not naming AYSHR, stated that the nation’s children must not be targetted by sensational protest and disruptive actions. It expressed its views on the issue in a two-page letter which was disclosed around midday yesterday via the ministry’s Communication’s Unit.

It stated that sex education in schools was a matter for teachers, parents, religious leaders and the national community. It is the ministry’s view that school children’s early exposure to sexual intercourse tend to put them at risk of socially transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancy. Not that it was against sex education, but the statement said that the ministry was of the view that it must be initiated through a comprehensive curriculum through a school Guidance Programme. And drugs, violence, child abuse and neglect are no different in terms of the approach to educating the nation’s children. The statement also pointed out that the issue of sexuality and child development “is a very complex matter” because our society was multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic. The statement ended: “The ministry of education wishes to advise that the subject of condom use and its distribution is a matter for authorisation by parents and for guardians as appropriate. In the circumstances, the Ministry of Education will not sanction or support the distribuition of condoms in the school system.”