Outrage after sex education pupils in Switzerland are given soft toy reproductive organs



Parents horrified after primary school pupils were given the plush genitalia

The 'sexboxes' were distributed by a parents group in Basel



Uproar has sparked a huge debate and referendum in Switzerland



School pupils were given soft toy penises and vaginas by a Swiss education ministry project, sparking a referendum in the Alpine country.

The initiative was the brainchild of a group of parents in the northern city of Basel that led the demand for schools to drop the 'Sexbox' education kits.

The kits, which were to teach kids from primary school upwards about sex, were eventually banned after widespread protest, but the campaigners now want a country-wide ban on sex education for children under nine.

A Swiss education ministry project that involved pupils being given soft toy penises and vaginas has sparked outrage.

The vote was ordered after campaigners gathered more than the 100,000 signatures of voters required to put their measure to the public for approval.

The campaign coalition - whose goal is the 'protection against sexualisation in kindergartens and primary schools' - handed in its petition in December and the government is now obliged to set a date for a vote.

Referendums are the bedrock of Switzerland's system of direct democracy, with voters called out several times a year to voice their opinion on a host of issues at local through to federal level.

Some of the iterms in the 'sexbox'. Now parents are voting on the future of sex education for children

The sexbox kits included accessories such as soft-toy penises, which the parents' group said was tantamount to handing out pornography to children

The measure stipulates that sex education is the business of a child's parents and not the school system.

While it would allow classes on avoiding the risk of sexual abuse, it would ban sex education for anyone below the age of nine, while such lessons would be optional for children up to the age of 12.

For older children, compulsory lessons would be permitted, but they would be required to be given by biology teachers and focus on 'reproduction and human development'.

No pupil would be required to follow a class that strayed beyond the basically biological to address such themes as the social aspects of sexuality.

The sexbox kits included accessories such as soft-toy penises, which the parents' group said was tantamount to handing out pornography to children, who needed protecting against sexualisations at a young age.



