A meeting was held in the State Duma to develop a school course in family studies

The State Duma held a regular meeting of the working group to develop a school course in family studies. The deputies reported that they had “already handed over the flag to the Ministry of Education” so that they could prepare a “road map” for the educational program, and turned their attention to the Ministry of Health. Acting doctors shared their thoughts on how to tell schoolchildren about reproductive health “without physiologisms” and instill in them “intolerance of childlessness.”

Let us recall that in March 2023, the head of the State Duma Family Committee Nina Ostanina (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) proposed integrating a family studies course into school curricula. Parliamentarians held a series of meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education and Science, at which they heatedly argued about the need for such a subject and its content. The deputies stated that family science lessons would save Russia from falling into the demographic abyss, and representatives of the Ministry of Education noted that the number of hours in school programs is limited and for the sake of family studies they would have to sacrifice “physics or chemistry,” while the corresponding values ​​are already instilled in schoolchildren in social studies and in “Conversations about what matters.”

At least partially, the supporters of family science managed to achieve their goal. The head of the working group, member of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection, Issues of Paternity, Maternity and Childhood Tatyana Larionova (ER) noted that the government-approved plan for the Year of the Family (announced in 2024 by presidential decree) includes family science lessons (as optional, not mandatory classes). Family studies may begin its path into the school curriculum in April: by this date, the Ministry of Education, into whose hands, according to Mrs. Larionova, “the flag has been handed over,” should prepare a “road map” for the program.

Representatives of the department did not speak at the meeting, so the deputies switched to the Ministry of Health. Mrs. Larionova stated that “there is a lot of debate in society about whether it is worth involving doctors in family science and talking to schoolchildren “about this” and how to make sure that “this” does not come down to issues of sex education.” According to the deputy, schoolchildren apparently do not need the latter, and by “this” Tatyana Larionova meant reproductive health issues. “According to my surveys that I conduct among parents, we came to the conclusion that such lessons are needed, but there should not be many of them. These should be moral lessons related to health,” she added uncertainty.

Director of the Department of Medical Care for Children, Obstetrics and Public Health Services of the Ministry of Health, Elena Sheshko, generally supported the idea and suggested that such classes would be able to “create intolerance towards childlessness and popularize large families as the basis of a healthy society.” She, however, immediately noted that entrusting the task to doctors alone would not work: “We don’t have the personnel to put even a mid-level health worker in schools.” A representative of the Ministry of Health recalled the “terrible 1990s, when the number of teenage pregnancies and abortions went through the roof.” “This is also why it was decided to talk about sex education in schools,” Ms. Sheshko recalled. “We (doctors.— “Kommersant”) came to the teenagers with great enthusiasm. But the physiologisms we are accustomed to have not received support in society. Therefore, people with pedagogical education should talk to children, and we will be on hand.”

Tatyana Larionova objected that the doctors came to the lessons “with condoms,” and this, in her opinion, the parents “of course could not allow”: “I understand the importance, but this cry “give me a contraceptive to avoid pregnancy” was unnecessary . Developing positive reproductive attitudes should be on the agenda.”

Veronika Vlasova (ER) from the Family Protection Committee suggested that “everyone think together” about what words to use to talk to schoolchildren about teenage pregnancy, so as “not to hide, but not to highlight the topic.” Separately, she added that, although the age of up to 15 years is a medical indication for termination of pregnancy, “today we are fighting for preservation, for every one.” Mrs. Vlasova noted that “wonderful speech modules have been developed for communication between a doctor and a patient who has decided to terminate a pregnancy,” where an option to respond to a complaint from a pregnant girl under 18 years old “how can I give birth, I’m a child myself” is the construction: “Being a young mother is great ! and “Children born to young parents are very close to them, because they are practically from the same generation.”

The chief freelance gynecologist for children and youth of the Ministry of Health of the Northwestern Federal District, Marina Ippolitova, urged to remember that “a teenager does not have the competencies to immediately become a parent”: “Therefore, we must not only develop speech modules, but also provide further consultation.” And “not only gynecologists, but also psychologists, parents, priests, teachers, social educators and lawyers should talk to children about reproductive health,” she added.

“Doctors talk about sex education much more interestingly than psychologists, with vivid examples,” said deputy of the State Council of Tatarstan, director of the educational organization “Bala-City” Albina Nasyrova (United Russia faction in the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan). “We practiced such lessons with both those So the doctor was asked a lot more questions.” Ms. Nasyrova even turned to the European experience of sex education classes, noting that in the Netherlands, “where these classes have been conducted for a very long time, the rate of teenage pregnancies is the lowest.” Ms. Nasyrova made it clear that teenage pregnancies should not be welcomed even now, but her colleagues were not entirely sure of this, and Ms. Larionova reminded the audience that “same-sex marriages are coming to us from Europe, which we in the State Duma today sharply condemn.”

Here, the chairman of the executive committee of the Union of Pediatricians of Russia, Leila Namazova-Baranova, noted that “we cannot shift responsibility to each other due to the lack of teaching and medical personnel” and we need to work “in the association in order to get everything done.” The program of the new subject, in her opinion, should be discussed with the children themselves and find out from them “what exactly they want to know about their body and health.” Tatyana Larionova firmly stated that the lessons will “in no way improve the sexual literacy of children,” but are intended as an attempt to “raise happy mothers and fathers.”

Polina Yachmennikova