[Watch] Kelantan Teacher Educates Students On “Safe Touch” Through Music
Through comprehensive sex education, teachers are better equipped to deliver more open and age-appropriate lessons on reproductive health, respect, and consent.
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Sex education has always been a somewhat taboo subject in Malaysia, despite the fact that it is a very important topic for both adults and young children.
With proper sex ed, Malaysians will be able to understand their bodies better, be more confident about their bodies, and also know when an interaction could be “wrong” (i.e. non-consensual touching, sexual assault).
Rohani Rajab, a teacher at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kandis in Bachok, Kelantan uses music to teach her young students about “safe touch”.
The song’s lyrics teaches children how to recognise inappropriate touching, and what to do if they find themselves in a situation where an adult might have ill intentions towards them and their bodies.
Part of the lyrics go:
My body is mine,
Don’t you try to touch it,
I don’t like you making me uncomfortable,
Please don’t do that,
Touching here and there,
You have ill intentions,
So I have to let others know.
Her method is actually part of a larger project to educate teachers how to deliver sexual education
With the support of Yayasan Hasanah, a foundation under the sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Education are training teachers to deliver more open and age-appropriate lessons on reproductive health, respect, and consent.
Under this project, the Reproductive Health Association of Kelantan (ReHak), in collaboration with the education ministry, is using Comprehensive Sexuality Education to teach students how to identify unsafe touch, speak up about boundaries, and make safer choices.
In a video by news and media outlet The Fourth, ReHak State Manager Tengku Nur Fazila Tengku Hassan said “We started conversations with teachers from several districts because we want to understand more about how they deliver the subjects in schools”.
“Most of the students are in schools most of the time so teachers are the adults that are closest to them. From there we chose to carry out this program with the support of Yayasan Hasanah and the Ministry of Finance.
“We carried out a teacher strengthening project in delivering comprehensive sex education in schools around the Bachok district for a year,” Nur Fazila added.
Rape and incest cases in Kelantan rose sharply between 2023 and 2024
In May this year, Kelantan police disclosed to the public a rise in rape and incest cases in the state.
Kelantan police chief Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat said in a Bernama report 252 cases of rape and incest were reported in the state from January to April 2024, compared to 206 in the same period in 2023 – an increase of 22.3 percent.
The victims include children as young as 10 years old with many cases involving abuse by family members.
Due to fear, shame, social stigma, or lack of awareness about legal rights and available protection mechanisms, many of such crimes go unreported.
With the help of initiatives such as the one being carried out by ReHak, Yayasan Hasanah with the help of relevant ministries, there is hope that Malaysia’s youth would be better equipped and protected from sexual abuse or assault.
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