Danish students strike for better sex education – VG
Pupils at at least ten upper secondary schools in Denmark went on strike for two hours and broadcasted sex education to all the country’s schools.
The aim of the strike is to get better sex education in the Danish curriculum.
Danish DR writes that students at at least ten schools left the classrooms and gathered in the canteen in protest from 12 noon on Thursday last week.
– When there is no room in the syllabus, we have to take the place ourselves, says Alma Tynell. She is the chairwoman of the Danish Upper Secondary School Students’ Association.
The student responds that sex education in primary school is not enough, and demands that it also become part of the school curriculum in high school.
During the hour-long strike, Christanhavns Gymnasium in the capital Copenhagen is also arranging a live stream of sex education for all schools in the country.
When the case was reported Thursday morning, at least ten other schools had joined the initiative.
Get support and money
Former leader of Sex and Society, Christian Graugaard, agrees that sex education in Denmark is lacking. Today he is a professor of sexology at Aarhus University.
– I think it is good that some high schools are leading the way, but it is clear that it is not enough, Graugaard says to DR.
The students also receive support from both the chairman Henrik Nevers in Danske Gymnasier and the Danish Minister for Children and Education Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil (Socialdemokratiet).
However, the minister says that they do not want to turn sex education into a separate subject in line with mathematics or social studies.
In a press release, Rosenkrantz-Theil informs that the Danish government has set aside two million Danish kroner which will be prioritized for, among other things, theme days about sex for students, writes DR.
– Students should learn to say no
Lene Stavngaard, national head of the Danish Sex & Society, believes that sex education today only provides limited competence.
Sex & Samfund, together with Danske Gymnasielevers Sammenslutning, are two of several loud voices in the strike.
She believes in school should learn how to practice sex, involuntary pregnancy and at the same time knowledge of sexual cross-border behavior.
– It is important that they learn to say no to the things they do not want, and that in return they dare to say yes to everything that they actually want, says Christian Graugaard.