Teaching teenagers about sex has just got a lot easier for parents and teachers in Hunan Province.

 

In a bid to take some of the embarrassment and potential for serious error out of sex education, the No 15 Middle School in Changsha this weekend launched Hunan Province's first website dedicated to providing students with advice on sex and reproduction.

 

The service provides students with a safe, discrete and convenient tool for navigating their way through a subject that has long been fraught with taboos.

 

"Many Chinese teachers and parents may feel too embarrassed to talk about sex. Students can now pose their questions to experts online," said Zhang Tao, deputy-director of the school's teaching affairs department.

 

The school's website, http://www.csswz.com.cn/bg, includes both text and pictures, covering such topics as sexual psychology, physiology, morality, law and news.

 

"Unlike some other websites, which spread obscene information, it's safe to visit the school website," Zhang said, noting the Internet had made it much easier for young people to access pornography.

 

The school will hold special introductory sessions to teach students how to better use the website.

 

The idea seems to be catching on across the country. Schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Fushun City, in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, have created similar websites for their students. In September a school in Suzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province held an online exhibition on abortion aimed at primary and middle-school students.

 

The need for such programs is widely recognized.

 

"Middle school-level sex education is so urgent in this country especially since so many youths seem to have ideas about sex that are more developed than their bodies," Zhang said. "The gap has become the source of many social problems."

 

Li Bian, deputy director of the AIDS-Prevention Education Project for Chinese Youths, an organization co-sponsored by the China Charity Federation and the Chinese Society of Education, hailed the websites.

 

"The country has been waiting for too long," he said. "The level of sex education at middle schools, as well as at colleges and universities has shown few signs of improvement, even though the country has stressed the need for education for years." 

 

Major cities like Shenzhen, Guangzhou and even Beijing have few educational institutions offering courses on sexology.

 

Li said sexology was an important science and should be included in the country's compulsory education. Li's office is set to launch a campaign to establish sex-education courses at 10,000 middle schools, high schools and universities across the country.

 

Students and parents in Changsha have welcomed the new website. "I support the school's sex education effort and believe the website is healthy since the school runs it," said one mother, surnamed Zhou.

 

Students said they would feel comfortable using the website. "It's convenient if we want to search for information because we can e-mail experts. We don't have to feel embarrassed because it's all about scientific knowledge," said a student surnamed Liu.

 

(China Daily November 21, 2006)