Ben Weyts, the Flemish Minister for Education, said that he does not see the need to give away free condoms at schools, after a proposal from the National Pregnancy Termination Evaluation Committee last week.
"Free condoms, that's one more job they want to give to education, stop doing that," said Weyts on VTM News (video) on Sunday.
The National Pregnancy Termination Evaluation Committee advocated making contraception free of charge for people up to 35 years old last week. The committee also said that free condom machines should be placed in schools.
"We need to make sure our teachers are able to teach. That is their core task, and everything else, such as handing out condoms for free, is not part of that," Weyts said.
The occupation of secondary school teachers has been on the list of shortage occupations for some time, and recently, primary school teacher has also been added to the list as well. "We want to make the profession more attractive, with, first of all, more respect and fewer burdens," Weyts added.
@BenWeyts (@de_NVA): "Meer respect en minder lasten voor de leerkrachten. Wij moeten ervoor zorgen dat lesgeven centraal blijft staan. Gratis condooms weggeven heeft daar niets mee te maken." #vtmnieuws
— VTM NIEUWS (@VTMNIEUWS) February 9, 2020
Translation of tweet: "We must ensure that teaching remains central. Giving away free condoms has nothing to do with that."
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
