My son is 14. In 2009 he undertook NCEA level 1 Health. He has very strong views on sex education, he believes the state should have no role in educating him in it and it is a subject for him to discuss with his parents. We share his view. We wrote to the school and asked for him to opt out. They arranged for him to sit in the library during that section of the Health course.

Then my son sat the end of year exam. He came home very unhappy as he was confronted with having to answer the sex ed section of the health exam.

In the exam he chose to give stupid answers to the questions in this section (he's 14 afterall and he was angry) or he simply stated his own moral views. This saw him not only fail the section but also the exam.

But that is not all, in response to a question he viewed as heavily loaded (as do I) his personal views were criticised by the marker. The question was something like: "name two contraceptives that are good for teenagers to use" he wrote effectively that there were none because teenagers shouldn't be having sex. He got scored zero, which he expected as he did not answer the question, but in red pen next to his answer the examiner criticised his moral views and stated they were wrong.

We are confused,

- does my son have the right to avoid this topic in a state secondary school or not?

- does he have a right to form, hold to and express his religious and ethical views or not?

- if he is allowed to exercise his freedom of expression rights to no receive or impart information on this particular topic when it comes to the class attendance then why does the state require him to do so in the exam in order to pass NCEA health?

- what are his/our rights and what is the process forward as it seems to me impossible for him to complete NCEA (he needs health credits) and gain access to Uni unless he violates his conscience and religious beliefs.

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