Chinese students need more intensive sex education "not only for
the prevention of HIV but also for personal health," UNAIDS
executive director Peter Piot was quoted as saying last week on a
visit to China.
While Piot praises the government for "taking a strong
leadership" in this issue, there are still many gaps in how sex
education is filtered down to young people.
Ma Yinghua, a senior councilor with 11 years' experience in
health and AIDS education for students from primary to college,
told chinadaily.com.cn Wednesday that not only teachers should talk
about sex education, but parents too.
Also a professor with Institute of Child and Adolescent Health,
Peking University, Ma expresses her concerns about what young
children actually learn about sex in the classroom.
"Most parents don't think it's important for their children to
have health classes including sex or AIDS prevention knowledge,"
she said. "It's the academic courses they care most about."
A hard job in practice
"In China, there's actually no sex education class in the
schools," explained Ma. "But it's included in the health education
class or AIDS education class in some institutions."
In 2001, new guidelines for the school curriculum were set,
incorporating the health education class with physical education,
diluting the importance of the topic. In the "Physical Education
and Health" lesson, areas such as health and fitness, nutrition,
and disease prevention are covered.
Education about sex doesn't start until Grade 5 in primary
schools. And from 2003, the Ministry of Education added lessons on
drugs and AIDS.
"But in the rural areas where a considerable number of students
are 'left-behind children', students don't have as much education
as the ones in the cities -- not to mention health education or
even sex knowledge," said Ma.
The government sponsors her to train teachers to instruct
students about health education. When she first started doing this
in 1996, the majority of the teacher trainees didn't even know what
AIDS was.
A decade later, the teachers are knowledgeable about the
subject, but are now finding ways to teach it more effectively to
students. But there is also the problem of school administrators
not allocating enough class hours for sex and AIDS education.
"That makes me frustrated," Ma told the reporter.
Attitude that matters
The general public connects sex education mostly with how to use
condoms, but not the attitude towards sex behavior and the
responsibility having sex.
"That's also one of the reasons why Chinese parents are worried
about sex education for their children, as they see it as
corrupting their minds," Ma said.
However, few young people share their problems around sex with
their parents because they might not know the correct knowledge and
the ways to talk about it.
According to a survey by a first-aid hotline for pregnant teens
in Shanghai, about 7.9 percent of the parents queried talked to
their children about sex.
"Parents are responsible for their children's sex knowledge from
a very early age," said Ma, "so that when they enter the school,
they already know something about it."
"There should be more communication between parents, teachers
and schools through meetings and with the children at home,"
continues Ma. "Schools need to pay more attention to students'
acceptance of sex and AIDS knowledge and teach them more life
skills involving solutions to possible situations in daily life
through interactive ways."
Different ways and different stages
The 2003 China's education guidelines stipulate six class hours
in junior high and four hours in senior high schools for AIDS
education.
But Ma doesn't think this is enough. Also, learning how to use a
condom isn't taught until college. "It's better to start teaching
students how to use condoms in senior high," she said. "It's also
vital for vocational schools to have this kind of lesson."
Some local governments like Hubei in Central China have included
AIDS prevention knowledge into tests for senior high schools and
higher education since 2005. And Beijing has its own textbooks for
middle schools students on AIDS prevention.
But rather than textbooks, practical tips and methods taught in
class are more important, says Ma. Most schools prefer to hold
lectures for students on sex education, not small classes of
interactive lessons, which are more effective.
Also, those who actually teach the sex education classes are not
qualified instructors. "Eighty percent of the trainees I give
lessons to are school doctors and nurses who might lack enough
teaching qualifications," said Ma. "They should be biology
psychology or health teachers who know how to make teaching more
effective.
"We need more sex educators other than those at school," she
said.
(China Daily July 26, 2007)