‘Sex education should be age appropriate’

The age of the children should be taken into account in any sex education that the ministry endorses, representatives of the Holy Synod have said.

The statement was made following a meeting on Monday between Education Minister Athena Michaelidou and the Synod during which the subject of sex education in schools, as well as other educational matters, was raised.

The minister was had been invited to discuss the subject in the Holy Synod’s first regular session of the year, under the presidency of Archbishop Georgios of Cyprus.

According to an official statement, ministry officials briefed the clerics on the content of sexual education courses in schools.

In the discussion members of the church noted that while it was understandable that children today have access to multiple information sources on the subject of sex, including online, this only heightens the need to present responsible information to them.

“The age of the children should be taken into account, societal morals of our country, parental input, and excluding anyone who is not an educator from the lesson and from school grounds,” the Holy Synod said.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the topic of appropriateness in sexual education was broached over an incident involving a teacher sharing a video of a bishop expressing a homophobic stance with high schoolers during a religious education class.