Kids play the Female Genital Mutilation Game

British use a game to teach kids about the insane mutilation of girls


British children of 10 and 11 are being taught about female genital mutilation for the first time as primary schools join the effort to eradicate the practice, which is a criminal offence.

Pupils can find it distressing or embarrassing to learn about the African tradition of cutting girls’ genitals, teachers involved in the initiative said. But children needed to be made aware of signs that they or their friends were at risk, they said.

The need for awareness is great in the summer break before secondary school begins when thousands of British children are taken abroad to be cut.

St Werburgh’s Primary School, Bristol, is thought to be the first to embed the subject in personal, social and health education (PSHE) lessons, which address issues such as body changes and female empowerment reports the Times of London.



Slice it off in the name of Allah.

Bristol City Council, which covers a large Somali community and is leading a campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM), said that in the past year ten other primary schools had had training about the issue.

The council is urging all schools to “address FGM” regardless of their racial mix. Head teachers can choose whether to implement the training and parents can opt not to have their children in such sessions. At four secondary schools in the area, a role-play exercise called the FGM Game, and a DVD are used to help teenagers to understand, report and prevent the crime.

FGM is a tradition in some Muslim African cultures where it is associated with cleanliness and virginity. About 24,000 British children are estimated to be at risk and some are believed to be mutilated in Britain. The most serious type involves removing all external genitalia and sewing up the vagina.

At St Werburgh’s, a teacher and learning mentor help Year 6 girls to understand that their bodies should stay the way they are. FGM is referred to in lessons as “cutting”. Claire Smith, head teacher, said: “We don’t go into graphic detail . . . but they need to know that, if someone starts talking about becoming a woman or becoming clean, with a holiday or a celebration and presents, they should talk to somebody they trust.”

Jenny Weston, the school’s learning mentor, said that pupils went through a range of emotions during PSHE lessons, from intrigue to upset, but most were comfortable in a small session.

The school also holds one-to-one sessions and has regular meetings with parents. About 10 per cent of its 195 pupils have Somali heritage.

Smith has worked with the community to get parents’ consent for lessons on sex and relationships and to make clear that FGM is illegal in the UK, though no one has been convicted. All families making special holiday requests, possibly to allow wounds time to heal, are asked outright whether they plan to cut their daughters.

Many have renounced the practice but feel pressure from relatives overseas.

Smith said that she had alerted police and social services to at-risk children several times in five years. She called for PSHE lessons to be made statutory so that parents could not opt out. “If the Government is serious about eradicating FGM then they have to put it in the national curriculum,” she said.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “FGM is an extreme violation of human rights.” But he added: Parents have the right to withdraw their children from any or all parts of sex and relationship education that is not part of the national curriculum.”