Tories pledge to give parents a say over teaching of ‘sensitive issues’

Scottish Tories have pledged to give parents a say over what schools teach children on “sensitive issues” such as sex education.

The Conservatives are proposing to create parent panels for every council area in order to ensure that lessons on socially contentious subjects are age-appropriate for pupils.

The commitment comes in the run-up to the Holyrood election on May 7.

Scottish Conservative education spokesperson Miles Briggs said the panels would “ensure pupils receive age-appropriate information on sensitive issues”.

He said: “These common sense plans would give parents a say in what their children are taught in areas like sex education.”

Mr Briggs said the move came after a  previous survey of schoolchildren, carried out under the SNP Scottish Government, resulted in youngsters being asked “intrusive and deeply inappropriate questions that left many pupils and parents feeling uncomfortable”.

Mr Briggs said the parent panels would also “guard against damaging initiatives like this being introduced in the first place”.

He added that the new bodies could also “curtail the influence of government-funded activists who seek to impose their agendas on issues like gender in our schools”.

He declared: “Scottish Conservatives believe that parents are better judges of what’s right for their kids to learn on socially contentious issues than SNP ministers or education officials.”