Sex education: Schools urged to teach pupils about sex crimes

The chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), Alyson Kilpatrick, was also among those questioned by MLAs.

She was asked a question by DUP MLA Cheryl Brownlee about how different religious beliefs were acknowledged within RSE.

“The scientifically-accurate information that’s given should not differ depending on the religious belief,” Ms Kilpatrick replied.

“What may differ is their attitude to, for example, abortion, attitude to prevention of early pregnancy on faith grounds.

“But it shouldn’t affect the scientifically-accurate information that’s given to children.

“That’s going to be the same whether it’s a Muslim family, a Christian family, a Jewish family.”

Previous research from the NIHRC suggested that some schools in Northern Ireland were teaching pupils that homosexuality was wrong.

Ms Kilpatrick said that research had also found there was “no consistency” across schools in the teaching of RSE.

Ms Brownlee’s DUP colleague David Brooks MLA, however, said RSE could veer “into elements of morality and faith that are usually set in the home”.

The UUP MLA, Robbie Butler, said that some “young people have suffered horrendously” because RSE had not been handled well in some schools.