Sex remains off limits in vietnamese schools
HANOI - While parents and teachers often feel embarrassed with
the thought of discussing sex with youngsters, Vietnamese teenagers are eager to find out
everything they can about the topic, said a latest survey.
The survey conducted by the Sociology Institute in several northern provinces of the country
found that sex education in local schools is still inadequate as many teachers are reluctant to
touch on the subject in front of a class full of students.
The problem is further exacerbated by the embarrassment of the pupils.
"Our teacher talked about it in a very dry way, and many of the boys used it as a way to tease
the girls. Most students in class do not really understand it," said one secondary school
student.
If the survey is correct, her opinion reflects the problems faced in sex education across the
north of the country.
"I have been having my period for two years. I have got a boyfriend in the same class and we
have hugged and kissed, though we kept our clothes on. Am I pregnant?" inquires one
13-year-old student.
Such queries are not unusual. This is one of the most common questions being asked at
doctor's clinics in the region.
Education on population and family planning was introduced to the country's curriculum in the
early 1980s. However, it tends to focus on demography rather than on biological reality.
Now, the programme is giving centre stage to reproductive health education, focusing on sex,
population and development, protection against sexually transmitted diseases, the structure
of sex organs, love, companionship, safe sex, gender equality, contraception and safe
abortion.
Nevertheless, these issues are only covered from secondary school level upwards.
Sex education has yet to be allotted separate subject status and still falls beneath the joint
mantles of morality, geography and biology.
According to the deputy head of the Population and Family Planning Education Department,
Professor Dang Quoc Bao, from the Ministry of Education and Training, most of the teachers in
charge of these three subjects prefer to concentrate on them, shunning any active discussion
of sex.
Only a few are genuinely keen to promote population and family planning propaganda.
Teachers are further hindered by their inexperience in giving lectures on sex.
Consequently, many students aged between 17 and 19 have only the vaguest notions about
how sex and contraception actually work.
Another survey conducted on nearly 5,000 teenagers in the capital city of Hanoi and provinces
of Thai Binh and Vinh Phuc found almost half of them carrying genital diseases.
Exasperated by the situation, one teacher at the Nguyen Dinh Chieu Secondary School in the
southern province of Tien Giang said: "We need to be talking about how to teach students
about sex rather arguing about whether it's necessary or not."
Many are suggesting that the best way to approach the issue is by using pictures and photos
to stimulate group discussion. This would help students put forward their queries in a relaxed
environment, and give them an opportunity to decide how they would combat their problems.
According to the chairman of Vietnam's Family Planning Association, Pham Song, sexual health
care among adolescents is not "a cause for great optimism."
It is estimated that in Hanoi, 15 per cent of teenagers aged between 15 and 19 have sex
before marriage.
In Ho Chi Minh City, 2.5 per cent of them have had sex. In the nation as a whole, five percent
of women under 18 have given birth.
Most Vietnamese parents still recoil from the idea of sex education, believing that their son or
daughter is too young to need it.
The reality of the premarital teenage sex life is becoming more and more apparent, but many
adults are still unprepared to accept it, according to local media.
As many parents are busy making a living almost all the time, their children are often free to
live as they wish.
This situation has brought about immeasurable consequences and can only be dealt with by
ensuring detailed and readily available sex education.
Observers, therefore, suggest that more clinics should be opened to deal with sex issues, and
that more books and papers should be published to provide adolescents with the information
they need.
By Huang Haimin & Thai Thanhvan - OANA/Xinhua - January 31, 2003.
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