Just days before that, it was none other than our very own Senior Minister of State for Education Mr S.Iswaran who so self righteously absolved his ministry of any wrong doing or blame.
Look who's talking now!! Look who's not getting their facts right before shooting off their motor mouth!
Get facts right on sex education: Iswaran
By Amelia Tan
GET your facts right on what is happening in Singapore schools when it comes to sex education, and
do not base comments on 'innuendo or information received on the fly'.
This advice, for those who have criticised the sexuality programme run by the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) in some schools, was given by Senior Minister of State for Education S. Iswaran yesterday.
Speaking after an event celebrating Yishun Town Secondary School's new autonomous status yesterday, he urged the parties in the Aware dispute to engage in 'responsible commentary' on the subject of sexuality education, as this is an important part of the school programme.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) takes a deliberate and cautious approach in sex education, he said, and its guiding principle is that the family is the basic building block of society.
Its guidelines, he said, were drawn up to help students make 'values-based decisions on this whole issue of sexuality and in a manner which is sensitive to our multiracial, multi-religious environment, because clearly, there are different perspectives in our society'.
Mr Iswaran explained that while teachers deliver the core curriculum for sexuality education, schools have the flexibility to engage external agencies - including Aware - to run additional programmes for their students.
But these extra programmes must abide by MOE guidelines.
The Aware sexuality programme for schools has emerged as one of the core points of contention between the organisation's new and old guard.
Last week, in giving her take on why some members of the group decided to mount a leadership takeover, senior lawyer
Thio Su Mien - who described herself as the 'feminist mentor' of the new guard -
said the Aware programme encouraged lesbianism and homosexuality.
She said the programme taught young girls from the ages of 12 to 18 that it is okay to experiment with each other. She talked to some parents about this, and they were flabbergasted, she added.
This had galvanised the members of the new guard into action, she said.
Yesterday,
however, Mr Iswaran countered this view. He said the ministry had not received any complaints about the programme, and has had no reason to intervene thus far.
The MOE reiterated this in a letter to The Straits Times yesterday.
It said parents and students in schools that ran Aware's programme had not given any negative feedback on it.
Neither had it received a complaint from Dr Thio, it added.
Last year, the ministry said, 11 secondary schools engaged Aware to run the three-hour workshop, which covered topics such as sexually transmitted infections and the consequences of pre-marital activity.
The number of students who took part from each school ranged from 20 to 100.
Aware also conducted 45-minute school assembly talks which discussed issues such as body image, self-esteem, eating disorders, teenage pregnancies, sexual harassment and the role of women in today's context.
In the letter,
MOE said the schools 'found that the content and messages of the sessions conducted were appropriate for their students and adhered to guidelines to respect the values of different religious groups'.
It also reminded parents that they can choose to keep their children out of such programmes.
In his comments, Mr Iswaran added: 'MOE takes an objective approach, and that is what we want to preserve in our schools as it is of value to our students.
'But having said that, clearly if there are instances when parents have some unhappiness, they should raise this to MOE and MOE will be happy to investigate.'