On Tuesday, 56 members of the Seimas voted for such an amendment to the Law on Education, while 43 were against and 23 abstained. Opposition “peasants” and democrats voted for the amendments, but there were also a few votes from those in power. The majority of representatives of the governing conservatives, the Liberal Movement and the Freedom faction voted against or abstained.
Linas Kukuraitis, the representative of the “Vardan Lietuvos” Democratic Union, who presented the amendments, said that this would allow reaching a compromise on the life skills program that started in September, specifically on the sexuality education part, which caused the indignation of some parents and the public.
“The main problem is that sexuality education, which makes up 10 percent of program, when it is included in the life skills program, parents lose their right to care for moral upbringing, which is defined in the Constitution, without restrictions”, said L. Kukuraitis, presenting the project.
L. Kukuraitis said that the life skills program is important, and its goal should be to prepare young people for the future – to live in a family and navigate the labor market, and if the part of sexuality is transferred to moral education, “society will calm down and the life skills program will be able to be taught”.
An amendment to the Law on Education is proposed to establish that “a component of the development of social and emotional competences related to the education of the student’s sexuality is integrated into the moral education (religion and ethics) programs”.
More than 30 opposition members of the Seimas submitting the amendment said that according to the Constitution, parents take care of the moral upbringing of children according to their beliefs, and this right cannot be limited by secondary legal acts.
According to the initiators, if sexuality education is included in moral education lessons, when parents choose ethics or religion lessons for their children according to their beliefs, they would also choose sexuality education that corresponds to their beliefs.
The life skills program implemented in schools since this school year has received criticism from some politicians and parents’ organizations. They accuse the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports of spreading LGBTIQ propaganda during classes, and teaching children about contraception instead of abstinence from sexual intercourse.
Agnė Širinskienė, a representative of the Mixed group of Seimas members, who spoke in favor of the amendments, said that the transfer of sex education to moral education would ensure the possibility of choice, and the topics of human anatomy are also taught during biology lessons.
“The moral education in the older classes is chosen by the children themselves, and in the older classes children have a choice, and the health part, the biology part, we also have biology lessons, where the teachers have the opportunity to introduce biology and anatomy,” said the parliamentarian.
Ieva Pakarklytė, representative of the ruling Laisvė faction, said that politicians should not regulate the content of education down to the last detail, and the recent case of an eleven-year-old pregnancy proves that sex education is necessary.
“How many more 11- and 13-year-olds in Lithuania will have to wait, be forced, for us to understand that there must be such education?” This program contains steps on how to recognize violence, how to recognize sexual violence”, said I. Pakarklytė.
The parliamentarian added that from her experience of three years of work in the Seimas, it can be seen that “Sexual education lessons for the Seimas would be the first to benefit”.
From September, life skills are taught in grades 5 and 7 one lesson per week, and in grade 9 one lesson every two weeks. Gradually from class 1 to class 10, one lesson per week will be devoted to this subject.
The life skills curriculum integrates many topics: social and emotional development, health education, substance abuse prevention, bullying and violence prevention, human safety, traffic safety, first aid, sexuality education, mental health promotion, gender equality, building respectful relationships, human rights and others.
The ministry claims that misleading information is being published in the public space about the life skills program, and that educators are ready for these lessons and will still be able to improve.
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2024-10-02 19:45:38
