Shelving sex education problem

BATTLE LINES  remain  drawn  between churches and advocacy groups over  a proposed law mandating the teaching of sexual education in public schools as “casualties” climb at over 33 a day.

The National Assembly has crumbled over the years in the face of Church opposition, and donned  blinkers  when faced with statistics showing an ever increasing rate of adolescent  pregnancies, and STD’s including children as young as 10.

Reacting to a church organized massive march the craven deputies returned law 61 to first debate on August 6.

One wonders how  opponents with unwed teenage children would react to the news that they were about to become grandparents, or that a son or daughter had developed AIDS.

President  Juan Carlos Varela, widely accused of resemblance to a tortoise, has never been slow in funneling  government funds to church related projects.

Faced with the threat of massive street demonstrations, he   decided to create a commission to study  the law.

Commissions which tend to drag on for years are a favorite political tool for shelving a problem and much loved in Britain where they are deemed Royal until the final “report” is ready to gather dust on the shelves and the “problem” has disappeared from the headlines.

Panama’s  “inter-institutional commission” will study the proposed law and will be led by the Ministry of Education, which has courageously  created three proposed curriculums for primary, pre-secondary and secondary students.

Also on the commission will be Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado and officials from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Development, The Institute of Women, The Secretariat of Adolescents and Family, The Gorgas Memorial Institute and Social Security.

The commission will seek input from various sectors, including churches and non-governmental organizations. The goal is to build a consensus.

“We seek agreement on a proposal in line with the realities of the country,” the government said in a press release.

But with opponents  announcing , massive protests before an agenda has been drawn up, and craven deputies looking to  retain  their seats in 2019 don’t expect any move that spells change

Deika Nieto) , a member of the Board of Panamanian Association for Family Planning (APLAFA), says  that from 2014 to July this year the  institution treated over 7,000 of which 2, 349 were teenagers  aged 15-19 and 85 other girls aged 10-14 years.

Until July this year  the Ministry of Health reported over 5,000 teen or younger pregnancies not counting those admitted to private or social security hospitals, and a plethora of newborns left in garbage containers, in toilets or on  the street. That’s a rate of 33-40 pregnancies  day

Other consequences
Paul Cordova planning and evaluation manager at  APLAFA, says  that pregnancy brings consequences in three fundamental aspects:

Health, with minors at a  higher risk of dying in childbirth or during activities.

Education, with  6 out of 10 young pregnant girls leaving the school system. in Economic environment because mother and child are dependent on others for their survival.

The educational system as it stands has failed, says  sociologist   Jose Chamber,  and fast decisions are needed.

But we have a commission  … and by year end at least another 6,000 child pregnancies.