Daily Lesson from Life 06 May 2009

"Wed, May 06, 2009 AsiaOne - MOE suspends Aware's programme for schools

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has suspended the Association of Women for Action and Research's (AWARE) sexuality programme after a thorough investigation.

In a press statement released this afternoon, the ministry said that the "Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Basic Instructor Guide" had been pulled off because it did not conform to MOE's guidelines in some aspects.

In particular, "some suggested responses in the instructor guide are explicit and inappropriate and convey messages which could promote homosexuality or suggest approval of pre-marital sex".


Giving a reason for its decision, MOE said that the Singapore education system did not promote alternative lifestyles to students.

MOE also urged parents to play a bigger part in sex education.


"Parents are ultimately responsible for inculcating values to their children. MOE's sexuality education programme aims to complement parents' role in helping students make informed... decisions regarding sexuality," it said.

MOE's decision to investigate AWARE's sexuality programme was a swift turn from its earlier stance late last month.


In a letter to the Straits Times forum, the ministry had said that it saw no reason because it had not received any complaints from parents about the programme.

However, two days after the letter was published, MOE said it decided to proceed with investigations as parents had started to express concern over AWARE's sexuality programme."

This is a step-down for sure for the MOE. 1 day it said AWARE's program is ok. The next day it said it is NOT.

Lessons for me are:

1. good that MOE has the big heart to step-down. Acknowledged that it overlooked the issue and take corrective actions to right the wrong. Leaders must have this big heart and humility. Also, it is courage and honesty;

2. important to learn and understand why the slip-up occurred. It is inappropriate to say that parents are to teach sex education to their kids. They are NOT properly trained! That's why the need to do this in school in the 1st place! Is that not the case? So, if MOE wants the parents to do it, then it better educated and trained the parents to do it. Most parents could not even broach the subject let alone engaged in deep conversation on sex education!;

3. AWARE new old-guards leadership has to explain to the people why this happened and apologized and correct it.

4. There is no need to overly praised the old new-guards who were ousted after fighting this issue on the religious ground. Just praised them for bringing this into focus because having sex too early is not good for the mind and body, especially the girls. Also, homosexuality is unnatural biologically. Period. No religion should be in this.

May MOE learned and repent and get the right things going. Train the parents if MOE wants the parents to talk about sex education with their kids!