GEORGE TOWN: Sex education in schools, which currently is as an element in the Pendidikan Jasmani dan Pendidikan Kesihatan (PJPK) subject, is important to hekp address rising sexual crimes against the young.
Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching said in view of this, school teachers should not take sex education lightly by replacing the PJPK subject with others.
She said the subject teaches students on safe touch, unsafe touch, comfortable touch and uncomfortable touch, and to create awareness amongst them on the dangers of sexual crimes.
“I read an article this morning that Malaysia has become the hotspot for sexual crimes against the young children. This shows that we must teach our children at a young age on how to prevent it from happening.
“So I hope schools will not treat PJPK as unimportant, and teach other subjects such as Mathematics or English in its place instead,” she she said when met by reporters at SKJT Subramaniya Barathee here today.
Teo was on a working visit to the school to monitor the progress of a construction work of a new four-storey building, consisting of 12 new classrooms.
Also present were Bayan Baru member of parliament Sim Tze Tzin and Batu Uban assemblyman A Kumaresan.
According to Teo, the sex education syllabus taught in Malaysian schools need to be reviewed from time to time, so that it remains relevant with changing environment and current needs.
“Currently, sex education is being taught at schools as early as pre-school up to secondary schools.
“But our children nowadays are also getting information from the social media. So it is important that the schools are teaching the student the proper and right things, with up to date information. Hence the need for the sex education syllabus to stay current and up to date.”
Last month, Women, Family and Community Development Deputy Minister Hannah Yeoh was reported as saying she would discuss with the Education Ministry on how to create a sex education subject in schools.
She said statistics show that nine per cent of the total number of students in remove classes nationwide are sexually-active.
Yeoh added failure to educate children on sex and leaving them to learn for themselves through social media could possibly ruin a generation.