Tsoi-A-Fat: Review sex ed in Tobago

Sex education in Tobago must keep up with the times, urged Tobago House of Assembly presiding officer Dr Denise Tsoi-a-Fat, speaking with Newsday at the Family Planning Association’s report to the nation on Tuesday at Central Bank Auditorium, Port of Spain.

Associating herself with earlier speakers at the event, including youth activist Nikoli Edwards and the association’s chairman Prof Rose-Marie Antoine, Tsoi-A-Fat said, “Perhaps I can identify with them in terms of their disappointment that we haven’t gotten further in terms of extending the sexual education throughout the school system and perhaps at an earlier age, getting our young people involved in the conversation.

“We are in 2017. Children have access to the global environment. They have access to just about everything. Perhaps we need to rethink the idea of how we introduce the language to them, and what is the process for introducing the language to them in a meaningful way. So when they are exposed to it through the internet and social media, they are already familiar with the topic.”

Newsday asked Tsoi-A-Fat, a doctor, if such aims might be a challenge to achieve in Tobago schools, given Tobago society’s conservative nature. “Well. I don’t think it is just the education system as we know it that needs to be involved. The church does education. Why don’t we empower just about everyone who imparts knowledge in a structured way and consistent manner to our charges, speaking with one voice on the matter?

I would advocate for getting the churches involved, getting their input and getting their buy-in in terms of how to approach the issue.”

Newsday asked about any tugging between progressives and conservatives.

“I think we need to be honest about the statistics. Have the statistics reasonably changed or positively changed with what we are currently doing, in terms of the number of teen pregnancies, the statistics on abuse, and the figures on the early age of onset of sexual interaction for girls and boys? I think we need to look at those statistics and ask ourselves, is what we are doing at this point giving us the result that we want? If it is, then let’s continue. But if not, then we probably need to be going in another direction by doing something different.”