US district to offer condoms to 11-year-olds
Print Edition
A SCHOOL district in Oregon in the United States plans to offer condoms to students starting in sixth grade as part of an updated sex education policy aimed at reducing teen pregnancy, sparking debate over whether 11-year-olds are too young for such a program.
The plan by the rural Gervais School District comes after a 2013 survey by nursing students found that 7 percent of district high school girls had experienced pregnancy and 42 percent of students reported “never” or “sometimes” using protection.
“Over the past few decades, teen pregnancy in our community has remained somewhat constant, but higher than the board felt comfortable with,” Superintendent Rick Hensel said in a blog post dated Monday.
The district school board approved the sex education policy earlier this month for sixth through 12th graders in the tiny town north of Salem.
“Every few years, a middle school student either becomes pregnant or is associated with a pregnancy,” Hensel said.
“The board felt that the curriculum should reach the students of the middle school.”
But some question whether sixth graders need condoms.
“I have to say that sixth grade to me seems incredibly young,” said Amita Vyas, assistant Professor and Director of the Maternal and Child Health Program at George Washington University.
“We really don’t see high rates of sexual activity when we are looking at 13 and under.”
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