LAWAS: A total of 319 participants attended the three-day programme, Intervention Programme: Awareness & Advocacy Sexual Education Series 1/2017 Limbang district held at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Trusan ending yesterday.
Yesterday’s closing ceremony was officiated at by Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, Dato Henry Sum Agong.
During his speech earlier, Sum urged that parental control of education and the explosion of information and entertainment appearing in social media needed to be improved to avoid worsening the social problem which is getting serious.
He explained the statistics of Limbang district for cases of pregnant schoolgirls in 2011 stood at 96; this number increased to 108 in 2012. By the year 2013, this figure rose to 125 and the highest figure was recorded in 2014 with 137 pregnancies among school students.
But in 2015 the figure decreased to 119 and in 2016 the figures dropped to 75 cases but this is still worrying because cases like this still exist, said the Deputy Minister.
In addition, Sum was also disappointed with the involvement of students and educators in Limbang area in drug cases including drug abuse.
At the same time the increase in cases of pregnancies among teenagers who are still in school also need to be addressed by all members of society without pointing fingers at each others, he said.
Therefore, there must be joint efforts by all quarters, especially the family institution and the relevant authorities in curbing this social issue rather than continuing to be a pest to future generations of the country, Sum stressed.
In addition, he also revealed Social Development Council study of the programme’s finding that 33 per cent of students watched pornographic videos and pictures on the Internet.
As such there must be proper education given to the youths, especially students in order to avoid the addiction of watching pornographic videos and pictures in the Internet, the Lawas MP stressed.
At the event, he also announced a government grant of RM20,000 for the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) of SMK Trusan for carrying out activities to prevent students from engaging in unhealthy activities.
For Lawas area, he explained the cases of students’ pregnancies was 24 per cent in 2015 and increased to 52 per cent in 2016.
At the same time, 93.4 per cent of students who are pregnant are not attending school session although they still can continue learning until the end in accordance with the guidelines of the department.
Also present at the event were Executive Secretary of the Social Development Council Dr Zufar Yadi, Lawas District Officer Husaini Hakim, Lawas District Education Officer Awang @ Ibrahim bin Ahmad, Principal of SMK Trusan Nornisa Asmara, president of the PTA SMK Trusan Josley Pengiran and community leaders.
