The Know Daily - Wednesday 5 July 2023

_{Read in 5m 24s ∙ Listening to Joy Crookes}

New Zealand has become the first country in the world to expand its ban on plastic bagsin supermarkets to thin bags, which are typically used to carry fresh fruit and veg. The move, which came into force on Saturday, is expected to prevent the waste of 150 million plastic bags per year.

🏫 The state of sex education

A new report by MPs has called for a government-led strategy to engage with young boys to tackle the “scourge” of sexual harassment in England’s schools.

Tell me more.
The inquiry by the Women and Equalities Committee heard that current relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) is “less applicable” to boys than to girls. In the report, MPs say that there should be training for all teachers to help them hold conversations with young men about gender-based violence in a way that challenges “prevailing gender norms” and “ideas of masculinity”.

The inquiry found that while RSHE - which has been compulsory in secondary schools since September 2020 - contributes to “reducing relationship violence”, delivery had been “inconsistent”, with many schools lacking the time and funding to deliver RSHE effectively.

What else does the report say?
The committee has called for RSHE to be compulsory up to the age of 18 in sixth forms and colleges, warning that without it, young people would enter the adult world “less equipped to navigate potentially harmful and dangerous situations”.

MPs also said that the ability of universities to use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence victims of sexual harassment must be banned.

How big a problem is sexual violence in schools?
Thousands of children and young people have shared testimonies of alleged rape, sexual assault and harassment in UK schools on the Everyone’s Invited website, founded by student Soma Sara in 2020. It emerged last month that none of the claims investigated by the Met from the Everyone’s Invited movement have resulted in criminal charges.

The committee also highlighted that teachers themselves are not immune from experiencing harassment. In 2021, a TES survey found that one in four female secondary school teachers had been sexually harassed or abused in the previous 12 months.