Mixed-up teenagers need sex education

According to the NSO, 25 per cent of births in 2008 were to unwed mothers - an increase of nine per cent over 2007.

In a health survey carried out as part of an EU-wide exercise, 62 per cent of those questioned said they do not use contraception.

And according to information given in Parliament, 28 girls between 13 and 15 were referred to the Għozza Schoolgirl Mother Unit during this scholastic year. Two of the girls stayed at school despite becoming pregnant. The number of girls referred to Għozza last year was 22 compared to 31 in scholastic year 2006-2007.

These alarming snippets, which I read over the weekend in a magazine issued free with The Times, prompted me to give my views on the subject matter.

I feel that the cause of all these problems is the mixed messages on sex coming from every quarter. "It sometimes seems as if sex is compulsory but contraception is illegal," said a young girl in a report on the causes and remedies for teenage pregnancy. Unfortunately, mixed messages do abound from every quarter.

The comprehensive analysis of the research concluded that girls get pregnant through ignorance, lack of sex education and the difficulty of getting the right contraception. It's about time young people have the opportunity to attend a local "walk-in-clinic" with friendly, welcoming faces and intensive sex education from a young age.

These things don't encourage sex, they stop pregnancy - end of argument - and no need for TV discussions with "balanced" debate between the truth and utter nonsense.

Both the health and the education departments have a role to play in this problem. The two departments should work hand in hand, targeting a reduction in teenage motherhood by offering common sense and compassion coupled with effective and accessible contraceptive services for young men and women, with extra funding for those areas with high teenage pregnancy rates.

The Department of Education itself must seek to enhance pupils' confidence to say no to peer pressure and to delay sexual activity while tackling subjects such as the importance of marriage and long-term loving relationships.

Parents should have the right to withdraw children from sex education classes. But why, you may wonder, would any parent want to do that if what these classes teach is the importance of marriage and saying no?

Teachers need to have new training in sex education. There should be an expert on the subject who will monitor the quality of such education.

A joined-up policy between the health and education departments bringing success in reducing teenage pregnancies will in the end help the nation's coffers as fewer teenage mothers means fewer single, unemployed mothers.

The ideal is for every school to have a well-trained specialist, perhaps a nurse or counsellor, who knows the children and is constantly on hand to give them sound advice; someone they can trust to say nothing to teachers or parents, though working with teachers to provide the best sex education and practical help possible.

It is about time that politicians from both sides of the political arena break their taboo and talk honestly about the subject. School is the only place all children can be guaranteed to receive the information they require. Apart from that, clinics should be set up and should be friendly, accessible and open all hours.

Teenagers are caught in a world of sex all around them, wherever they look, whatever they buy, read or watch, yet they are denied easy access to the means of protecting themselves from its consequences.

It is unbelievable that so many mixed messages still run through too many of our attitudes to sex.