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Your letters: The directorate of family education
Overcrowded hospital: Residents of Banda Aceh receive health-care services at the Zainal Abidin Public Hospital on Feb
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span class="inline inline-center">Overcrowded hospital: Residents of Banda Aceh receive health-care services at the Zainal Abidin Public Hospital on Feb. 17. New health-care provisions known as the national health insurance (JKN) program and Health Insurance for the People of Aceh (JKRA) have encouraged more people to seek hospital services. Antara/Irwansyah Putra
As a high school student I am very pleased with the newly established Directorate of Family Education under the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry. I believe in the importance of family education, specifically in encouraging parents to be more willing to participate in their children's education, including being more engaged in discussing sensitive matters such as puberty, sexuality, body integrity and other related subjects.
As announced, this new directorate aims to assist parents to contribute more to their children's development, including in tackling sexuality related issues faced by children and teenagers.
Of course, teenagers experience many changes physically and psychologically and they feel the urgent need for sufficient information and support during this important stage of life.
I am fortunate to have parents that are more open minded and well prepared to talk about these issues with me, but I know that not everyone is as fortunate.
Parents' and families' involvement in these matters is urgent, especially when we notice numerous cases of underage sex, underage pregnancies, sexual violence and abuse that could have been prevented or minimized with proper sex education.
Take the recent shooting of a transvestite in Makassar by a high school student who thought that transvestites deserved to be killed, or the high rates of teenage pregnancy and sexual violence among young people.
In Indonesia most parents are hesitant to discuss these sensitive subjects with their children and often rely completely on their children's school to educate them about these matters when they are considered ready for it.
However, studies show that these subjects should not only be taught in school environments but also at home by figures that these children and teenagers trust to discuss them with.
As a primary school student undertaking sex education in Melbourne, my school held programs that taught us subjects regarding sex, puberty, body integrity and other similar matters in the fifth and sixth grade.
We were taught by teachers and professionals in the field in a way that was suitable for our age, for instance through educational cartoon videos and games.
But more importantly, simultaneously as the program started at school, the school informed the children's parents and families beforehand to be prepared for when their children came home from class and asked, 'Mom, Dad, could you tell me more about sex?'
The school then enabled the students' parents to handle the questions and confusion of their children regarding matters that they could not easily and freely discuss with other adults.
Sex education and parents' or families' greater involvement in children or teenagers' education and development will potentially reduce harm resulting from a lack of sex education.
The establishment of the Directorate of Family Education is a good start.
Rifqy Tenribali Eshanasir
Makassar
