Bengkulu school wins English debate contest

JAKARTA (JP): State-run SMUN 2 Bengkulu won the national senior high school English debate contest defending the notion that sex education must be made a compulsory subject at high schools.

The three-person team from a town which is still recovering from the devastating earthquake in June beat SMUN 34 Jakarta in the final on Wednesday night held at the Convention Hall of the University of Indonesia campus in nearby Depok.

M. Donny Eryastha, Yunika Sari and Meldi Siregar eloquently argued for making sex education, still widely regarded taboo in conservative Indonesia, compulsory at senior high schools.

They said the high rate of teen pregnancy and unwanted births could be prevented if young people were given education on the subject.

Their opponents argued that society was just not ready for a radical departure from the current practices, but they failed to make their points convincing before the jury.

Altogether, 19 privately and government-run senior high schools from 10 provinces, including Aceh, took part in the three-day contest organized by the University of Indonesia's English Debating Society.

The team from Aceh made it to Jakarta after a struggle because of the near breakdown in the transportation system there.

The jury picked Donny, Ina Dayamanti of the SMU Taruma Negara in Magelang (Central Java) and Marlisa Supeno of SMUN 1 Makassar (South Sulawesi) to represent Indonesia at an international English debating contest in Johannesburg, South Africa, in January, the organizers said.