‘Do more to protect teens’

Charis: It is never too early or late to teach children about sex education.

Are adults doing enough to protect teenagers like me?

In a survey that I conducted among my 16- to 18-year-old friends, 26 out of 35 of them disclosed that they experienced sexual harassment at least once, including myself.

When it happens, we usually brush it off as a “joke”, or laugh it off because it is too awkward to bring it up.

However, it is high time that we put a stop to rape culture, which is an environment where sexual assault and abuse are trivialised or normalised.

If you are familiar with our education system and the curriculum, you would realise that our schools do not really teach students about sex education.

To prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), abortion, baby dumping, rape and sexual harassment, we are taught to not expose ourselves to the Internet, to cover ourselves, to learn how to say no, to practise abstinence, and to not have sex, at least before marriage.

But according to a survey by the Health Ministry in 2017, conducted in 212 schools in Malaysia, over 30% of 27,497 teenage respondents were sexually active before the age of 14, and 16.6% reported having had sexual intercourse with at least two partners.

In 2018, there were over 10,000 teenage pregnancy cases registered with the ministry’s primary healthcare facilities.

I believe that our textbooks aren’t teaching us enough.

Bear in mind that I am not encouraging teenagers to have sex.

What I would like to emphasise is that they should be taught the importance of safe sex by trusted sources, like their parents and the school.

We shouldn’t only be teaching children to practise modesty; we should also teach them to control their temptations – especially for children going through puberty – so that they grow up to be morally decent human beings.

We have been wired by our education system that practising modesty protects us and that we should cover ourselves to avoid sexual harassment and abuse.

The statistics have shown that those are simply not enough.

We also need to talk about the lack of family planning topics covered in our textbooks.

Abortion, maternal deaths, child deaths, and STIs can be reduced by effective family planning.

People need to understand that it is not easy to raise a child, let alone be financially capable of doing so.

We need to increase awareness, and what better way than to teach them in schools?

It is never too early or late to teach children about sex education, and when we do teach them, we should be teaching them everything they need to know.

Of course, this feat can’t only be achieved via our textbooks and the education system; everyone has a role to play.

Adults need to do better.

Charis, 17, is a participant of the BRATs Young Journalist Programme run by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (Star-NiE) team. Throughout the year-long programme, participants aged between 14 and 22 from all across the country experience life as journalists, contributing ideas, conducting interviews, and completing writing assignments. They get to earn bylines, attend workshops, and extend their social networks. To join Star-NiE’s online youth community, go to facebook.com/ niebrats.

Using words and pictures from The Star, design a student-friendly poster to raise awareness of sexually transmitted infections.

Be as creative as possible.

When you are done, present your work to your teacher or English language society, and have it pinned up on your classroom or school noticeboard.

Now in its 24th year, The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (StarNiE) programme is continuing its role of promoting the use of English language through a weekly activity page in StarEdu. Parents and teachers are encouraged to work on the activities with their children and students. In addition, Star-NiE’s BRATs Young Journalist Programme will continue to be a platform for participants to hone and showcase their English language skills, as well as develop their journalistic interests and instincts. Follow our updates at facebook.com/niebrats. For StarNiE enquiries, email [e-mail]