Sex education is the responsibility of parents not the statutory duty of the state
Sir – Calls to make sex and relationship education (SRE) a statutory part of the national curriculum (Letters, August 26) are misguided and represent a serious attempt to undermine the role of parents.
There is no evidence to suggest that starting SRE at the age of four is going to reduce sexually transmitted infection and abortion rates among teenagers. We have had 30 years of SRE in secondary schools and it has never been easier for teenagers to get hold of contraception without their parents knowing.
Abortion rates and sexually transmitted infection rates have continued to rise. Schools are currently required to develop their SRE policies in close consultation with parents, and to be sensitive to parental concerns.
Making SRE statutory would take parents out of the driving seat and put the state in their place.
Norman Wells, Director, Family Education Trust, Twickenham, Middlesex
Published in the Daily Telegraph, 28 August 2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/3561761/Letters-to-The-Telegraph.html