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Christian evangelist Charles McVety and other religious leaders condemned the Liberals for going too far with the proposed changes four years ago, forcing the government to back down until now.

The government said studies show that girls as young as seven and eight are now entering puberty, significantly earlier than in previous generations, and they need information at the appropriate time to deal with the changes.

“We’ve actually got a whole group of primarily little girls, but little boys, too, whose bodies are way ahead of their heads,” Ms. Sandals said in an interview. “That’s not a political attitude survey. It’s not a religious survey. That’s just the way it is.”

The last time the sex ed curriculum was updated was in 1998, before the widespread use of social media and smartphones, she added.

“When we were doing the [curriculum] work in 2008 and 2009, even though we were thinking about internet safety, I don’t think the word sexting had even been invented,” she said. “We’ve asked experts in various areas to have a look at the 2010 version of the curriculum to see if there are areas that need to be updated.”

Research shows that between 15% and 28% of teenagers have sent a “sext” — a sexually explicit image or text message, and parents know teens spend a lot of time online and on their smartphones.

‘In our increasingly interconnected world, students often get information from unreliable and inaccurate sources’

“Youth today need knowledge and skills to respond to these realities … associated with the rapidly changing, technology-driven world, while also managing the risks and challenges of cyber-bullying, sexting, the prevalence of online pornography and other such issues,” reads a parents’ section on the Education Ministry website.