Sexual abuse in our schools

Parents will be concerned to hear that schools are not always as safe as they might hope. This is the situation described by a recent investigative report by Radio 5 Live (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b068hx1s)

which learnt of 5,500 sexual offences in schools reported to the police in the last three years, including 600 cases of rape. Social workers and police believe that the actual figures are likely to be much higher. 

The only solution that ‘specialists’ on the programme could come up with was ‘more (of the same) sex education’. Yet it is the attempt by the media and schools to teach young people that they can be sexually intimate with each other regardless of age and context that is a big part of the problem. Imagine the difference in our schools if young people were taught that sex is not a recreation, rather sexual intimacy is something good, to be set apart for, and cherished in the unique and loving relationship of marriage.

Unpalatable as it may be for some, this is the truth and anything else leaves us vulnerable to the sexual downgrade which offends, demeans and ultimately destroys pupils and their families, schools and society. We are now seeing the ugly and tragic effects of the prevailing climate on the well-being of our young people. Unless there is a U-turn in our nation’s moral direction, we will only see the lives of more young people being sacrificed on the altar of sexual freedom.