Sex education needed: Study

By WALAA HAWARI | ARAB NEWS

Published: Apr 14, 2010 00:11 Updated: Apr 14, 2010 00:11

RIYADH: Is Saudi society prepared for its children to be taught sex education? A study by female Saudi students at King Saud University’s Special Education Department recommends the teaching of sex education in the Kingdom’s public schools. The study, which surveyed 200 couples from the Eastern and Riyadh provinces, concluded that there is a need for sex education.

According to the study, 80 percent of participating parents, who were aged between 20 and 60, approve of the recommendation, while 43 percent say they are reluctant to share such information with their children themselves.

Meanwhile, 87 percent said they are concerned their children may be sexually harassed or abused. The study’s supervisor, Hania Merza, said sex education is a sensitive topic that is not new. “There is no shame in religion” and Islam encourages people to educate themselves, she added.

Merza added that sex education is related closely to a child’s well being and protects them from sexual abuse.

Mohammad Al-Sheddi, a member of the Shoura Council and the Human Rights Commission, agrees with Merza. He believes that children have a right to information that would protect them.

“The Shoura recently approved a protocol to protect children from being exploited for pornography. Children should be equipped with enough information that would allow them to differentiate between right and wrong, and detect whether they are being used or lured into a situation in which they may be abused,” he added.

Al-Sheddi said reserved and conservative people could misinterpret the term “sex education,” which could be interpreted as the actual relationship between a man and a woman. He, therefore, feels the subject should be taught in schools with some constraints.

He added that parents should raise awareness about the subject to their children in their first six years as this would be taken strictly as “information” and not in the sensual sense.

Al-Sheddi also said that the negativities of introducing the subject at the high school level outnumber the positive aspects.

Mohammad Al-Shaeea, a sociologist at Qassim University, defined sex education as “a dynamic social procedure that aims to provide the individual with information about sex that is consistent with religious values, society norms and correct behavior.” Al-Shaeea considers sex education as an essential part of basic social development.

Al-Shaeea said that a study of new students at Qassim University showed that 76.6 percent felt sex education is important. The approval, however, centered on what the Shariah mentions about sexual relations, marriage, and the mental and physical harms of bad sexual practices.

Laila Al-Ohaideb, a writer and the supervisor of the media unit at the Ministry of Education, said the contents of any sex education program should be clarified in order to get the wider society to accept it.

She added that Saudi society hardly accepts physical education and that sex education is bound to be rejected. She also agrees that although sex education will protect children from being abused, it should be ascertained whether the contents of such courses are suitable for their targeted groups.

“A project like this should involve several bodies and be supervised by psychiatrists, sociologists, educationists and Shariah scholars. It should be founded on strong religious grounds,” said Al-Ohaideb.

Although Al-Ohaideb does not object to sex education, she also does not approve of it. She added that there are many other genres of education — such as family education, education on how to deal with one’s families, parents, siblings and spouse, and physical education — that need to be introduced into the Kingdom’s schools before sex education.

She added that since some people advocate the teaching of sex education using underage marriage as an excuse, there is a need to set a minimum age for marriage.

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ABDULHAQQ

Apr 15, 2010 11:35

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I was raised in America and we had a general health course every two years throughout grade school and another single health class in high school which covered Sex Ed more intensively, especially, sexually transmitted diseases. Of course, the classrooms were not segregated. I remember, we even had to watch videos of some of the affects of STD's on a person, and another video showing a woman giving birth. But because of the way this information was presented, no one took it the wrong way. This is needed in the Kingdom only since many parents shy away from telling their children what they need to know. My wife (raised in Saudi) had no idea what was happening to her when her first monthly cycle came. This is unacceptable. If sex education is taught in Saudi Arabia, there also needs to be a lot of stress on the physical, psychological, and societal dangers associated with extra-marital relationships.

NADEEM

Apr 15, 2010 11:35

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This is not a googd move at all. The people who want this should send their children to Europe for Education. Why not we start Quran and Hadith in all classes in all schools in Kingdom?

FAUZIA NAHEED

Apr 15, 2010 11:56

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I fully agree with the need for sex education. The time is changing and we must find ways to cope with it. But the term "sex education" in itself is provocative. Why don't we call it "Moral Science" and prepare a curriculum that covers everything from social as well as religious angle. It will also address the concerns of the skeptics and remove the embarrassment associated with the term "sex education."

ANIS

Apr 15, 2010 12:00

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This study concluded findings based on what 200 parents said and the findings are subjective to the way questions are phrased and responses are interpreted. It is not a medical study which is based on hard facts. It would have been meaningful if the researcher had studied cases of marital disturbance and child abuse and concluded that most of these cases related to the people who did not have enough sex education. The concept of sex education is high in the Western societies since decades and the problem of unstable marriages and child abuse has only worsened. In fact their idea is ‘when you have sex, use contraceptives to prevent AIDS or pregnancy’. Still they define the problem right, which is of teenage pregnancy or STD. The parallel message in an Islamic society will be ‘don’t have sex outside marriage.’ The Western countries have very good social and legal system in which an abused wife or child isn’t ashamed or afraid to report harassment. We should learn the good things from them, and not imitate everything as is. You should hit the problem right in order to solve it- if the high divorce rate is a problem, you should focus on how you can enhance understanding between spouses and if child abuse is a problem you should focus on how you can bring systems and education to prevent that. The word 'sex education' is too broad and too dangerous.

FAISAL MOHAMMAD

Apr 15, 2010 12:03

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Hard to believe that today's generation is out of the scope of such knowledge. But it's possible for those who are kept too isolated from the open society.
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