The head of the Seimas urges not to give up the topics of sexuality in the life skills program: this would show cowardice
“The percentage of pregnancies among minors in Lithuania is still 2-3 times higher EU average (…). It would be a sign of cowardice on the part of politicians, and maybe even a specific ministry, if they said: this issue is dangerous, toxic, let’s put it off,” said the chairman of the Liberal Movement to “Žiniai Radio”.
“You can’t do that,” she added.
According to V. Čmilytė-Nielsen, politicians created a problem by engaging in manipulations that were completely unjustified.
“It is funny that an initiative to regulate the content of one lesson is born in the Seimas (…). In my opinion, most of the politicians who make this a central issue are not concerned with the morals of children-teenagers, but with their way to the Seimas, the European Parliament, and maybe someone to the presidential elections,” reasoned the politician.
“Let’s leave children and teenagers alone, let’s not make them a field of political battles in this place,” urged V. Čmilytė-Nielsen in conclusion.
ELTA reminds that the opposition factions of the Seimas last week registered a project proposing to delete the part of sexuality education from the life skills program. This initiative aims to integrate sexuality education into moral education, and parents can choose whether their children study according to religious lessons or according to a curriculum adapted to ethics lessons.
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the life skills lesson that has appeared in the 5th, 7th and 9th grades since September. At the beginning of September, a fake document started to be shared on social networks, which stated that the new life skills lesson will teach students about sexuality “according to LGBT ideology standards”.
Although Ministry of Education, Science and Sports immediately reported that the document circulating in the social space has nothing to do with the actual content of the program, some municipal mayors expressed criticism and mistrust of the program that started.