Public schools in the Chicago area are closed right now due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The schools will finally open in autumn and the students will have a surprise waiting for them.
When schools in Chicago open for the first time since the start of the pandemic next month, they will be stocked with disinfectants, hand sanitisers, masks, forehead thermometers and air purifiers. But besides all these things, almost every school, including the elementary schools, will also have menstruation products and condoms.
As per the new policy passed by the CPS Board of Education, schools that teach fifth grade and up must maintain a condom availability program as part of an expanded vision of sexual health education. That means all but a dozen, which enrol only younger grades, of the more than 600 CPS schools will have access to condoms.
When Chicago Public Schools students head back to their schools next month, any school with kids in the 5th grade and up will offer birth control. https://t.co/DNXYsD2MM0
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) July 6, 2021
The policy that was passed recently was years in the making and had often hit roadblocks owing to its controversial nature. A significant section of lawmakers believes the policy is a step in the right direction. “Young people have the right to accurate and clear information to make healthy decisions,” said Kenneth Fox, a CPS doctor and a paediatrician for 30 years, told Chicago Sun-Times.
While the administration claims that the new policy would help create awareness about unwanted pregnancies and serious illnesses such as HIV AIDS, critics claim familiarising children from fifth graders with condoms could prove counterproductive.
The decision to provide free condoms in schools elicited a sharp reaction from the critics, who questioned the rationale behind teaching sexual education to children of 10-12 years by providing them with free condoms. “I’m for realistic sex education in public schools, but fifth graders are 10 and 11 years old. What is being taught?” questioned one social media user.
Similarly, many other people on social media were taken aback by the decision to offer free condoms in elementary schools. One of them said it is not only ridiculous that children studying in elementary schools are being provided with condoms, but it is being done so on taxpayers’ expense.
