The “culture war” over sex education in schools is driving a “shocking” increase in sexually transmitted diseases among the young, the children’s commissioner for England has warned.
Dame Rachel de Souza said she had a “big concern” about young people’s sexual health amid a rise in diagnoses of gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia.
“We’re in the middle of this culture war about relationships and sex education but we’re not actually teaching our kids what they need to hear,” she told The Times Health Commission.
“I go around the country talking to teenagers and saying, ‘What’s on your mind?’ and I cannot tell you how many times sex education comes up. They say, ‘nobody has ever taught me — is my body right? What do I do about preventing pregnancy? How should I have a relationship?’ They’re asking me about this. Heads are so frightened about teaching these things and they’re not teaching these things well in school.”
Data from the UK Health Security Agency shows that gonorrhoea cases for all ages have risen to the highest level since records began in 1918, and syphilis to the largest annual number since 1948.
