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Officials seek better sex education

2013-10-21 09:37 Shanghai Daily Web Editor: Gu Liping
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Youth protection officials were surprised to discover nearly 20 percent of 15 to 18-year-old girls at a high school in Hongkou District have had a sexual experience, according to a survey.

Chen Zaiyue, director of the Hongkou District Minor Protection Office, called for better sex education and friendlier teaching methods, saying the current sex education curriculum is outdated.

"The old way of teaching sex education, which only discussed the physical features of women and men, is far from enough for middle and high school students nowadays," Chen said.

"We must teach both the physical and psychological aspects of sex and help students solve their puzzles and problems."

Chen said it is important to teach sex education in schools since Chinese parents basically don't talk to their children about sex and how they can protect themselves.

Hongkou is the first district in the city to teach students about the psychological aspects of sex.

The trial program is taking place in cooperation with hotline 6587-6866, which offers consultation and guidance to minors and young women with unwanted pregnancies.

Through this program, groups of five to 10 students are taught by either a doctor, psychologist or youth protection official about body changes during puberty, the risks associated with unprotected sex and self protection.

"We want to teach female students how to say 'No' and what to do if they show signs of pregnancy," Chen said.

"In many cases where a female student has become pregnant, it's because they say they feel too embarrassed to refuse the boy."

Officials from No. 411 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, which works with the hotline, said they had received a rising number of calls for abortions from minors.

More than 400 of the 1,300 calls the hotline received this summer were from minors, according to Dr Zhang Hongyan with the hospital.

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