Condoms or abstinence
Published:Sunday | May 12, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Guidance counsellors ponder the best fit for schools
Tyrone Reid, Senior Staff Reporter
Guidance counsellors in the Corporate Area are split on the question of whether condoms should be distributed in schools.
An informal survey by The Sunday Gleaner last week saw all the guidance counsellors making it clear that they are following the Ministry of Education's dictate that there should be no distribution of condoms in schools but the views were mixed as to whether this should be changed.
While recounting jaw-dropping encounters with sex-crazed teens and highlighting several cases of teenage pregnancy, some guidance counsellors were adamant that abstinence from sex is the message that makes the most sense for students.
However, others were equally adamant that the reality of the situation demands that the students be provided with condoms.
At the North Street-based St George's College, director of guidance counselling, Maureen Wong, endorsed the position of the school principal Margaret Campbell who told our news team, "We are a Catholic school and we stand by the teaching of the church and we don't support the distribution of condoms in schools."
According to Wong: "For years we have taken that stance. We teach sexuality but when we talk about condoms, it is in the context of marriage. We stress abstinence here. We are a Jesuit institution."
We would resist it
Wong stressed that St George's College would defy any order to distribute the rubbery contraceptive to its mostly male student body.
"Even if the ministry says it, it would be a contradiction of our beliefs and we would resist it," she emphasised.
Wong told our news team that she caught a grade-eight student with a condom in his wallet and he told her he got it while he was attending primary school.
"The condom was as old as Noah's ark. I don't even think they still make that brand," said Wong.
The counsellor also revealed that some sexually active students have told her that they have used home-made protection if they can't afford to purchase a real condom. "They use what they call ghetto condoms when they can't afford to buy one. I have interviewed several boys who have used this ghetto condom; where a clear plastic bag is used during sex," Wong explained.
Daniel Daley, guidance counsellor at the Holy Trinity High School, told our news team that his school is also a Catholic institution and as a result would not support the push to distribute condoms in schools.
"Being a Catholic institution, we are constrained from issuing condoms or contraceptive use in general but we are to inform our students about the usage," said Daley.
On the other hand, Denise Brown-Edwards, guidance counsellor at the Tivoli Gardens High School, said she would do whatever the education ministry tells her to. "Whatever decision the Ministry of Education makes, I'll have to work with because they are the boss," said Brown-Edwards.
At the Norman Manley High School, Dwayne Gordon, senior guidance counsellor, told The Sunday Gleaner that while he understands the reasons behind the call for condoms to be distributed in schools, he is worried about the message it would send to students.
No Problems
However, if push comes to shove and the education ministry sanctions the distribution of condoms, Gordon, who is also a reverend, said he would have no problems passing out the condoms to students.
"It is going to happen (students having sex). It is not a matter of rocket science. If it comes to that point, I can (distribute the condoms) and I will," said Gordon.
"Abstinence is the best way but if these students are so highly exposed to sex, we must take a practical approach," he added.
To underscore his point, Gordon recounted an instance in which he told his students to bring a movie or a song to class and most of them brought pornographic material and songs with explicit sexual content.
"Most of them brought blue movie or skin-out songs (and) the movies and the songs have a significant influence on them," Gordon added.
One guidance counsellor, who asked to not be named, said that condoms should be issued because the schools have to grapple with highly sexually active teens.
"It ought to be issued for the ones who are sexually active," he said.
"I'm a realist ... I just saw one of my 10-graders with a hickey (love bite) and she was advertising it as if it is a CSEC certificate," the guidance counsellor added.
Meanwhile, Althea Grindley, head of the guidance counselling department at the Denham Town High School, said she did not support the thrust to have condoms distributed in schools. "I will not be distributing condoms in my school," declared Grindley.
'Even if the ministry says it, it would be a contradiction of our beliefs and we would resist it.'
'Abstinence is the best way but if these students are so highly exposed to sex, we must take a practical approach.'
'Whatever decision the Ministry of Education makes, I'll have to work with because they are the boss.'