In the meantime, however, some parents have approached the Ombudsman Board directly with complaints. Rosenkranz: "They didn't even know that the Ombudsman Board was already conducting an investigation." The parents' descriptions of the children's reports, the traumatisation - from sleep disorders to "not being able to block out the images" - made the events look even more dramatic than the newspaper articles had suggested. "Although the media reports were upsetting enough, the parents' descriptions of the children's condition after these lessons were even more shocking," said Rosenkranz.
In this individual case, the Austrian Ombudsman Board will scrutinise the concepts of sex education, the teaching materials and learning aids and also examine how the school authorities dealt with the parents' criticism. "Perhaps the scale of this case is the reason for the lack of response from the Minister of Education to date. I am now considering presenting the matter to a wider public as part of the programme 'Citizens' Advocate'," concludes the Ombudsman.
