2,500 teen girls impregnated by adult men

This is according to former education minister and Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh as he responded to a call from The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, for more sex education to be taught in schools.

Gopeesingh said sex education has not been carried out successfully in schools.

He said teachers needed to be trained and retrained and this was where UWI had an important role to play.

Gopeesingh said Education Minister Anthony Garcia should seek support from The UWI and the University of TT in the Teachers Education Programmes for this to be an important component in obtaining their degrees.

“Sex education was not an important consideration because a lot of teachers are reluctant to undergo this process.

The Government and the Police Service seem to be reluctant to uphold the rule of law in terms of apprehending the male counterparts who have impregnated teenage girls. It is an offence to have sex with a girl who is under 18.

“If the police do their work and begin to set the example and arrest and apprehend these men who perpetrate these crimes on these young girls, you would see a serious reduction in teenage pregnancies in this country,” Gopeesingh said.

He noted that over a period of 20 years, there could have been over 50,000 children born out of teenage pregnancy.

“The principal and teacher are supposed to report it, the parents, but nobody does...They try to hide it and it’s illegal.

Sometimes there are children without parents or even grandparents so there is no guidance, so it is a societal problem as well and society has to take responsibility,” Gopeesingh said.

Garcia said sex education was part of the general reform of education.

He felt that there must be wider discussions with stakeholders and particularly parents.

“It appears to me that there are peer issues affecting the society. It is to the school system that one looks to for redress, the school system will play its part but must also rely on the input of the national community.

“Sex education must be taken into a wider context. There must be proper training of our teachers, school administrators, Student Support Services Division, because sex can be a very sensitive issue.

Some teachers themselves demonstrate they are not equipped to handle this subject without adequate training,” Garcia said.