Toronto’s Metro Separate (Catholic) School Board (MSSB) voted 20-3 October 19 to implement a sex-education program for grade 3 and 4 students.
The program, to be effected immediately, will include limited instruction on human reproduction “appropriate for the age group,” program author Dr. Sylvia Santin said.
The Fully Alive Program will also instruct students on religious and social developments such as family conflicts.
Grade 3 students will be introduced to prenatal development and fertilization, Santin said. Information about intercourse will not be taught until Grade 4.
One of the trustees who voted against implementation, Michael Doyle, argued that early sex education will rob eight and nine-year olds of their childhood. It’s now up to parents to get sex lessons out of elementary schools, he said.
