Compel sex lessons at 11, says Government report

Eleven-year-old school children should be forced to undergo sex education regardless of their parents’ wishes, a Government-funded report says.

If the idea gets approval from Ministers, parents would lose their current right to opt their children out of the controversial lessons.

The report has been produced by the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV (IAGSHH). The group is a public body responsible for advising the Government on its National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV.

It recommends that comprehensive, in-depth sex education should become a statutory part of the curriculum in schools. They claim this will help reduce worryingly high rates of STIs among young people.

The Government is currently conducting a review of sex education provision. The IAGSHH report is the latest in a string of offerings from Government-funded bodies which recommend compulsory Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) to be enforced in schools.

But family groups point to academic studies showing that the ‘safer-sex’ approach may increase young people’s risk-taking behaviour.

A report from the Health Protection Agency recently conceded that young people were putting themselves in danger by having multiple sexual partners.

A spokesman warned that promiscuity was becoming “part of the territory, part of life” for young people.