The lack of sex education in academies and free schools is fuelling sexually transmitted infections, council chiefs warn.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has urged Whitehall to make sex and relationship education (SRE) compulsory in all secondary schools, with parents given the choice of opting their child out.
SRE is compulsory in council-maintained secondary schools, but not in academies or free schools, which make up 65% of all secondary schools and teach two million children.
The LGA is concerned that the number of STI diagnoses rockets once people have left school. There were 141,060 new diagnoses for 20 to 24-year-olds in 2015, compared with 78,066 for those aged 15 to 19.
They said this should be seen as a major health protection issue which could be tackled by making SRE compulsory for academies and free schools.
‘The lack of compulsory sex and relationship education in academies and free schools is storing up problems for later on in life, creating a ticking sexual health time bomb, as we are seeing in those who have recently left school,’ said Cllr Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board.
‘The shockingly high numbers of STI diagnoses in teenagers and young adults, particularly in the immediate post-school generation, is of huge concern to councils.
‘We believe that making sex and relationship education compulsory in all secondary schools, not just council-maintained ones, could make a real difference in reversing this trend, by preparing pupils for adulthood and enabling them to better take care of themselves and future partners.’
