Published by The Star, 28 June 2010.
PETALING JAYA: Many teenagers are having sex and this calls for an urgent need to introduce sex education in schools, said leaders of several non-governmental organisations caring for children.
Shelter Home executive director James Nayagam, who has been assisting pregnant teenagers for 30 years, said no amount of campaigning and counselling would prevent teenagers from experimenting with sex.
“A comprehensive sex education will be a better source of information than their friends,” said Nayagam, adding that preventing unwanted pregnancies and abandoned babies was its ultimate goal.
Shelter Home executive director James Nayagam, who has been assisting pregnant teenagers for 30 years, said no amount of campaigning and counselling would prevent teenagers from experimenting with sex.
“A comprehensive sex education will be a better source of information than their friends,” said Nayagam, adding that preventing unwanted pregnancies and abandoned babies was its ultimate goal.
He had come across cases where girls had sex when they were having their periods, as they wrongly assumed they would not get pregnant this way.
James also assisted a 14-year-old who had three abortions, all of them in back lane ‘‘clinics’’. She had since moved in with an aunty.
Dr Hartini Zainudin, the general manager of the Nur Salam halfway house for single mothers and children in Chow Kit asked: “Which is the bigger problem? Us being shy to teach our kids about sex, or having to deal with rising cases of abandoned babies?”
OrphanCARE president Datuk Adnan Mohd Tahir said sex should be a topic to be discussed openly with the youths to help them obtain more accurate information.
Christine Alphonse, a counsellor at the Ti-Ratana Welfare Society’s welfare home, said youths should also be taught about the consequences of having sex – and if they were prepared to handle issues such as unwanted pregnancies.
In Petaling Jaya, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abd Jalil said a 2004 survey on 1,700 young adults ages between 13 and 24 showed more than 50% of the respondents did not know in detail about the functions of reproductive organs.
“Teenagers lack information and access to birth control methods. Many teenagers are also not taught about ways to deal with peer pressure and how to say ‘no’ to sex before they are ready,” said Women, Family and Community Development Minister.
Between 2005 and 2009, the police reported 407 cases of child abandonment, nationwide.
“The statistics up till April 2010 recorded 24 cases. The statistics are increasing every year,” said Shahrizat in response to a report in The Star on Saturday about the higher number of teen pregnancy recorded by the Welfare Department.
Shahrizat said her ministry would propose to the Government to include Social and Reproductive Health (SRH) as part of the co-curriculum programmes in primary and secondary schools.
James also assisted a 14-year-old who had three abortions, all of them in back lane ‘‘clinics’’. She had since moved in with an aunty.
Dr Hartini Zainudin, the general manager of the Nur Salam halfway house for single mothers and children in Chow Kit asked: “Which is the bigger problem? Us being shy to teach our kids about sex, or having to deal with rising cases of abandoned babies?”
OrphanCARE president Datuk Adnan Mohd Tahir said sex should be a topic to be discussed openly with the youths to help them obtain more accurate information.
Christine Alphonse, a counsellor at the Ti-Ratana Welfare Society’s welfare home, said youths should also be taught about the consequences of having sex – and if they were prepared to handle issues such as unwanted pregnancies.
In Petaling Jaya, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abd Jalil said a 2004 survey on 1,700 young adults ages between 13 and 24 showed more than 50% of the respondents did not know in detail about the functions of reproductive organs.
“Teenagers lack information and access to birth control methods. Many teenagers are also not taught about ways to deal with peer pressure and how to say ‘no’ to sex before they are ready,” said Women, Family and Community Development Minister.
Between 2005 and 2009, the police reported 407 cases of child abandonment, nationwide.
“The statistics up till April 2010 recorded 24 cases. The statistics are increasing every year,” said Shahrizat in response to a report in The Star on Saturday about the higher number of teen pregnancy recorded by the Welfare Department.
Shahrizat said her ministry would propose to the Government to include Social and Reproductive Health (SRH) as part of the co-curriculum programmes in primary and secondary schools.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/11/nation/6645331&sec=nation
ReplyDeleteAccording to Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abd Jalil, a 2004 survey conducted on 1,700 young adults aged between 13 and 24 revealed that more than 50% of the respondents did not know in detail about the functions of reproductive organs.
“Teenagers lack information and access to birth control methods. Many teenagers are also not taught about ways to deal with peer pressure and how to say ‘no’ to sex before they are ready,” she said at a recent press conference.
Rashidah agrees, highlighting that the 2004 MPFS showed that a little less than half of young people aged 13-24 had heard of at least one contraceptive method.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/11/nation/6644701&sec=nation
ReplyDeleteSUE ANNE* lost her virginity at 13 when her then 18-year-old boyfriend sweet-talked her into having sex with him.
“It was quite a traumatic experience for me. It was painful and I felt ashamed after that. But then he comforted me and we did it again. This time he was gentler, and I enjoyed it,” says Sue Anne, now 22.
She confides that she became hooked on sex and would wait impatiently for school to end so that she could rush to her boyfriend’s place... Atikah*, 14, lost her virginity at a young age.
“I first had sex in Year Six (12 years old). I met this 18-year-old boy when I was going to the shops near my house and he gave me his phone number. I thought nothing of it but during the school holidays, I got really bored and called him. We went out on a date and stayed out until late at night. I was worried that my grandmother would not open the door for me, so I went home with him. That was when he pressured me to have sex. He promised to be responsible if anything happens; I was young and I believed it,” she recalls.
We teach our children maths, science, history ... and yet we forgot to teach them how to be wise. Hence, they are more intelligent yet less wise.
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