DOWNTOWN — The city has issued a new mandate requiring middle and high school students to take sex education classes, including lessons on how to use a condom and the appropriate age for sexual activity, the New York Times reported.
The new mandate calls for public schools to teach a semester of sex ed in sixth or seventh grade, and again in ninth or tenth grade and suggests they use HealthSmart and Reducing the Risk, curriculum that has been recommended since 2007.
The Daily News said younger students will be taught everything from the risks of unprotected sex to issues surrounding pregnancy and puberty. The proper way to use a condom will be taught to high schoolers.
The classes are also expected to include sessions on how to resist a partner’s sexual advances or avoid abusive relationships.
Parents will be able to have their children opt out of the lessons on birth control methods, officials said.
“We must be committed to ensuring that both middle school and high school students are exposed to this valuable information so they can learn to keep themselves safe before, and when, they decide to have sex,” the Daily News said, quoting Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott’s email to colleagues.
Sex education was last mandated by the city 20 years ago. While some schools have taught the curriculum, others have ignored it entirely.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, about one-third of teens have not received any formal instruction about contraception and many sexually experienced teens (46% of males and 33% of females) did not receive formal instruction about contraception before they first had sex.
The Times quoted a policy paper by the institute saying that, as of January, 20 states and Washington D.C. mandated sex and H.I.V. education in schools. An additional 12 states, New York included, required H.I.V. education only.
