Denominational boards: Let parents educate children about sex

TRINIDAD’s most influential Muslim organisation, the Anjuman Sunnat ul Jamaat Association (ASJA,) supports the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha’s position on the teaching of sex education in primary schools.

ASJA said that role must be left to the parents.

First vice president of ASJA Zainool Sarafat said sex education should first be taught by the parents and in the home according to their religion and beliefs.

Sarafat said there had been no consultation with the ASJA board and it would write to the Education Minister expressing its disappointment.

Vice chairman of the ASJA Education Board of Management Shamshad Ali said the board had a proven track record of doing what was in the best interest of its children but that did not mean the board was not willing to work with the government.

“But at least talk to us. Let us know what you want to do. We do not know what government want to teach our children because no one is talking to us.

“The way Muslims approach this topic is different from Hinduism and Catholicism, because of our culture, but we are open to proper discussions with the government.”

General secretary of the Presbyterian Primary Schools Board of Education (PPSBE) Geeta Maharaj said, “The only position the PPSBE can have at this time on that topic, of sexuality and sex education, is that the Ministry of Education must have consultation with us before implementation of any such change in the curriculum.”

CEO of the Catholic Education Board of Management (CEBM) Sharon Mangroo said parents are the first teachers of children.

“The school’s responsibility is to support the parents in their role as the first teachers. Therefore, to take sex education out of the entire curriculum and to give it this kind of attention, I think it's like looking at a human being and focusing on their reproductive organs alone.

“It doesn’t make sense. We have to teach children how to be fully human. What we have to do is, teach them to interact, to be themselves as they are meant to be, to preserve the dignity of their beings and to treat each other with dignity and how to form relationships that do that – respect themselves and respect others.

“In that process, that one little part of our being which has to do with reproduction is involved. But we have to look at it within that context. When we are dealing with human beings we have to deal with the whole person.”

Last week the SDMS, through its attorney Dinesh Rambally, wrote to Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Junior Minister Lisa Morris-Julian and the Chief Education Officer expressing concern over a proposal to introduce sex education at the primary-school level.

Rambally suggested that, at that age, such education be started in the homes and in accordance with the religious beliefs with which the child is being raised.

To do otherwise, he said, is an infringement of the rights and religious freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution and also under the 1960 Concordat.

The Concordat is an agreement signed between the State and the major religious bodies guaranteeing autonomy to the latter on the day-to-day affairs of all denominational schools, that is, schools run by the religious bodies.

“The Honourable Minister has missed the point that, under the Concordat, certain matters must, as a matter of law and fact be raised directly with the denominational board. The ministry did not consult with the board on HFLE (Health and Family Life Education),” Rambally told Newsday on Saturday.

“The ministry is behaving in a manner which is contrary to that agreement, which has existed since 1960.

“One therefore wonders whether the consultation is a farce and set up to distract the population from their own incompetence and/or they are going through the motions.

“The SDMS will not sit idly and allow any misguided and self-serving interests to prevail.”

There was no response to calls and text messages to Gadsby-Dolly.