LONDON: Sex education is to be made a compulsory part of the UK’s national curriculum in primary and secondary schools under government plans to cut teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

All children in state schools in England will learn about body parts and animal reproduction from the age of five, puberty and intercourse from the age of seven and pregnancy, contraception and safer sex from the age of 11. The new curriculum will attempt to stop sex education being consigned to biology lessons and ensure that children learn about relationships and the option of abstinence along with the facts of life.

Ministers indicated that schools would not be allowed to opt out of the rules. Faith schools will receive separate guidance on how to provide sex and relationship education — which will include contraception, abortion and homosexuality — alongside conflicting religious beliefs.

Jim Knight, the UK’s schools minister, said he wanted all schools to teach children more about sex in the context of relationships, including marriage and civil partnerships. He said he hoped better education would help teenagers make more informed decisions about when to have sex and delay losing their virginity. But he denied that the lessons would include learning about specific sexual activities from a very young age.

“We are not talking about five-year-olds being taught about sex. At key stage one [ages five to seven] they will be learning about themselves, their differences, their friendships, how to have strong friendships and how to manage their feelings.”Secondary schools in the UK currently only have to teach the mechanics of sex in biology classes, and not in conjunction with relationships and sexual health. Most schools teach personal, social and health education (PSHE) but it is not compulsory and quality is highly variable.

A recent survey of pupils revealed that four in 10 had received no sex education at school.

England has some of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Europe and sexually transmitted diseases, such as chlamydia, are soaring. Wales and Northern Ireland already have compulsory sex education.

The new compulsory PSHE curriculum, expected by 2010, will also include learning about the risk of drugs and alcohol, how to manage money and how to maintain a healthy diet. Parents should be informed about the contents of sex education classes, Knight said. There will be a drive to improve the teaching of classes, using dedicated teachers and training.

The government’s announcement follows recommendations in an independent review undertaken by representatives from groups spanning the sexual health charities as well as faith groups and schools.

A new review led by Sir Alasdair MacDonald, an east London head-teacher, will investigate further how to implement the plan and consider whether parents or even schools should be given an opt-out where

there is a religious or moral objection. But Knight said: “We wouldn’t be suggesting a statutory programme of study if we thought schools would have an opt-out.

“There are some that argue having an opt-out for parents for the national curriculum is difficult, but I think it is important that individual parents’ views are taken into account and their right to withdraw because of personal or moral views is respected. It’s something it would take a lot for us to move away from.”

He said that supplementary guidance would be produced for Catholic schools advising them that they too must teach all elements of the curriculum alongside Catholic values about contraception, abortion and homosexuality.

The Catholic Education Service denied that this could result in mixed messages for pupils if they were being taught the facts of contraception, then that it was frowned upon. Oona Stannard, director of the CES, said: “Young people have a right to have age-appropriate information. We can similarly ensure that they are taught the values of their religious faith.”

Sexual health campaigners were thrilled that decades of campaigning for compulsory sex education had come to fruition. Julie Bentley, chief executive of FPA, formerly the UK’s Family Planning Association, said: “This is a momentous decision. This move will dramatically improve the long-term health and wellbeing of our children and young people.”

Simon Blake, chief executive of the London-based sexual health charity Brook, said it was an “absolutely brilliant” move. “It shows a progressive and bold government that has taken notice of the views of children and young people.”

However, a minority of traditional family campaigners opposed the decision.—Dawn/ Guardian News Service