Hong Kong public schools’ attitude to sex education is outmoded and ultimately damaging to our youth, writes Winnie Yeung.

Chui is 12 years old and a student at a prestigious school in Sha Tin. Three months ago he posted two images on an adult forum, one of his face, and one of his genitals, alongside his personal contact details and text which read: “I will have sex with women aged 10 to 45 in exchange for money. Or, I will pay $450 an hour to have sex.” Outraged forum users condemned his actions; one even tracked the boy down and sent his information to the police. Two months later, a 14-year-old pregnant teen posted a picture of her pregnancy online, along with a message about how she plans to be strong in the face of her uncertain future. The resulting furor—including an investigation by the police into the girl’s possible criminal misconduct in posting her picture online—serves to highlight how skittish Hong Kong society is when it comes to the sexual activity of its youth; while Chui’s case shows how dangerously ill informed young people are when it comes to sex education.

Sex is largely considered a taboo subject in Chinese culture, but with society rapidly changing, continuing to ignore the problem of woefully inadequate sex education in local schools is no longer an option. Ng Man-lun, Associate Director of the Family Institute at the University of Hong Kong, is widely considered a local authority when it comes to sex and relationships. He says that the recent cases of youths engaging in reckless sexual acts are due to a lack of knowledge when it comes to sex. “Kids mature a lot faster now—they learn things from the media and they hear things from friends. But no one’s taught them properly about sex, reasoned with them and allowed them to decide for themselves what is right or wrong.”

“Sex education is completely outdated in Hong Kong,” he continues. “It’s totally out of touch with the real world.” Ng’s criticism is reserved mostly for schools. Currently, local public schools follow the Education Bureau’s guidelines on how to teach sex education in schools. An Education Bureau spokesman says that sex education is included in both the primary and secondary high school curriculum, mostly in moral and civic education classes, which are designed to “highlight positive values and develop their skills in making the right judgment.” The classes include teaching junior primary students about their body’s boundaries, and for secondary school students, studying real life cases such as “the regret of a 14-year-old father.”

It sounds fairly comprehensive on paper, but in reality often falls short of the mark. 15-year-old student Kum Man-ho is a student at a Christian co-ed school. He says that he only has one sex education class a year. “I don’t remember any other sex education in school; only this class. This year they invited a nurse over to teach us how to use a condom,” he says. “It’s the first time they’d even mentioned condoms.” Another student, Elaine Kwok, reports a similar experience. A student in a Christian girls’ school, she remembers her sex education consisting of a single class entitled Family Life Education. “The teachers just skimmed through it,” she says. “I thought it was pointless because we’d already learnt all about it from TV.”

Teachers have their own defense. Ho Hon-kuen, vice president of teacher’s group Education Convergence and vice principal of Elegentia College in Sheung Shui, says that schools simply do not have the time or the resources to provide adequate sex education classes. He explains that although sex education is on the curriculum, it’s up to the school to decide how much time to devote to the subject, what resources it should be allocated, and even whether to teach it at all. “I understand that our sex education doesn’t stand up to what the kids know these days, and that it can no longer be covered just in a biology class, but we simply don’t have the time,” he says.      

However, religious groups are also doing their part to shape the course of sex education in schools. The Catholic Education Office has just published two new books, one entitled “Who Should We Give This Gift To?” The booklet teaches children the Catholic belief that masturbation is abnormal, deviant and wrong. Professor Jeffrey Day, a veteran sex educator from the Education Facility at the University of Hong Kong argues that this approach leads young people to develop an unhealthy relationship with their bodies. “I met a young man once who was having frequent wet dreams, and thought that his father, a Protestant priest, would kill him if he was discovered. So he slept with toilet tissue in his underwear every night. He’d heard about masturbation but didn’t dare do it. He thought he would burn in hell if he did. I had to explain that if he masturbated, it might save him a lot of embarrassment and stop his wet dreams.”

The booklet also preaches against advocating contraception, claiming it will only encourage youths to engage in premarital sex. It says that carrying condoms is “absolutely not a good thing to do,” as carrying condoms would only make youths more likely to have sex. Dr. Francis Chan Nai-kwok of the Hong Kong Catholic Education Development Committee, which published the booklet, defends the teachings, claiming that they are not out of date and would not adversely affect teens and children that followed them. “The teachings are in line with moral education, and more importantly, the values and teachings that most parents want for their children.”

However, Ng disagrees with the booklet, saying that it will only create more confusion and misunderstanding. “The more you tell them ‘no’, the more likely they are to do it. And setting out strict rules is not the way to teach children anymore. Sex education isn’t about giving out orders; you have to educate them on every aspect of sexual development, and then let them decide for themselves.”