Saturday, November 22, 2008, 03.00 PM
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Saturday, November 22, 2008, 03.00 PM |
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With tears running down her face, she informed him that she was pregnant.
He tried to pacify her, saying that they were capable of taking care of the child, giving her suggestions as to how they were going to face the future, all of which presented a rather bleak picture.
After a while, the conversation lapsed into silence.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"It's too late for apologies," she replied.
The seven-minute skit is part of the half-hour video introduction to the "No Apologies: Say No to Sex" sexual education programme by Focus on the Family, a non-governmental organisation.
The video, shot in the United States, includes interviews with youths who had premarital sex.
"Some of the interviewees are single parents, raising their child on welfare. Some suffer from sexually-transmitted disease. Each of them gave their opinion on what they would have changed if they could only turn back time," said No Apologies curriculum executive Peter Chang.
The sexual education programme, which began in 2003, aims to teach teenagers on how to say no to sex.
It has received favourable response from the students. Members of Focus on the Family work together with counsellors from LPPKN and Education Ministry as well as medical personnel from the Health Ministry in conducting the programme.
So far, they have reached out to 26,000 students, all between 13 and 20 years' old across Malaysia.
"The programme is a character-based abstinence curriculum that helps youths to make the right choices. The curriculum teaches them about self-esteem, the importance of abstinence, marriage and the family," said Focus on the Family executive director Lee Wee Min.
The goal of abstinence education is risk elimination, not risk reduction. Youths need to be taught to abstain from all risky behaviour, including premarital sex.
Abstinence works every time. It is the only 100 per cent effective means to prevent pregnancy and spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.
"We would conduct surveys at the start of the programme to find out what they think about premarital sex. Unfortunately, when we asked them when would be the right time to have sex, many replied 'night-time', instead of 'after marriage'," said Lee.
"So in the programme, instead of just having someone to give a talk, we encourage discussions about the consequences of saying 'yes' and saying 'no'.
"They'd realise that saying 'yes' to sex before marriage has a lot more issues involved than if they had said 'no'. It gives them a better picture of the negative consequences of premarital sex.
"By the end of the programme, we are quite happy to say that 92 per cent of the participants pledged to abstain from premarital sex," said Lee.
The NGO outfit also works with counsellors from the Education Ministry, with help from the Health Ministry.
For more information on the programme, log on to www.family.org.my or call 03-58823343.
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