The Italian government wants parents to be required for sexual education lessons, which are not mandatory in Italy, a country in most Catholics.
Through a law of decrees, it wants to “guarantee (…) the previous and informed consent of families related to school -related school activities”, can be read in a statement published on Wednesday, April 30 at the end of a Council of Ministers.
Parents must require prior written consent “to participate in extra curricular activities and those that are part of the expansion of the educational offer on issues related to sexuality,” according to the press release.
The Lacing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni describes himself as a “Christian mother” and won the 2022 legislative elections defending traditional family values. The Vatican, on the other hand, always exerts a considerable influence in Italy, which means that the issue of sexual education lessons is largely taboo. The initiatives to make them mandatory in school have had little echo in the past.
47% of Italian young people received these courses
The Italian branch of the International NGO Save The Children found in February that only 47% of Italian adolescents had benefited from a form of sexual education in school. This rate was 37% in the poorest regions in the south of the country, as in Sicily and Sardinia.
A European Union report dating from 2020 concludes that when it has been in Italy, sex education “tends to focus only on biological aspects, instead of broader psychological, social or emotional aspects.”
In March, Cesie Research Center, which is based in Palermo, Sicily, described the measures taken to introduce sexual education in “incoherent Italian schools, blocked by structural barriers and political resistance”.
He accused “very good movements” of presenting this education as “a threat to family values and national identity.”
“By blocking education about relationships, consent and sexuality, they strengthen gender stereotypes and maintain a patriarchal system marked by sexist violence,” said this center.
Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978, but most gynecologists refuse to interrupt pregnancies, in the name of conscientious objection.
Source: BFM TV
