Sex and inter-personal relationship in school curriculum

Sex and inter-personal relationship education will be introduced to the school curriculum on the recommendation of the National Child Protection Authority(NCPA). NCPA Officials are already holding talks with the Ministry of Education on how it should be introduced as a new subject, NCPA Chairperson Natasha Balendra said.

Balendra pointed out teachers will have to be trained on the subject before they are introduced. Accordingly, the topic of sex and inter-personal relationship and life-skills development will be added to the current school curriculum in an age-appropriate manner, she said.

Outlining the NCPA's 2016 plan at a press conference recently, Balendra said there will be focus on creating a safe environment for children at home, the village, town and school. Simultaneously, similar attention will be focussed to strengthen the existing law and its enforcement.

Child Protection Committees and media units of schools will be strengthened to create awareness among children about their rights to safety. A training program will be launched to train day care workers, with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Vocational Training Authority, Balendra said."In collaboration with the Child Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office we will draft regulations for daycare centres. At present there is no accurate data on daycare centres. We are collecting data and planning to draft legislation to regulate and monitor of daycare centres," she said.