Sex Education Session Attended by Parents
Conducted by Math and English Teachers, Not Health Teachers
A junior high school in Kyoto, Japan, has attracted attention for conducting sex education classes where students directly asked questions about sexual intercourse and were taught how to use condoms and about childbirth. On the 12th, Fuji News Network (FNN) reported that a municipal junior high school in Kyoto City held a 'sexual intercourse education' class.
In Japan, sex education usually starts in high school, making this a very unusual case. Additionally, unlike the typical practice where health teachers conduct sex education, this particular class was led by teachers in charge of mathematics and English. It is also known that the class, conducted for third-year junior high students, included instruction on how to use condoms. Teachers at the school said, "Since starting sex education, the entire third-year class has been talking only about that topic lately," sharing students' reactions. A math teacher, who usually teaches the subject, emphasized, "Sex education can be more important than mathematics for living."
Furthermore, in this class, an employee from a condom company was dispatched directly from Tokyo to teach how to use condoms. The condom company employee explained, "There is a correct way to open condoms used during sexual intercourse," adding, "If not opened properly, they can tear."
The sex education class was conducted with parents also in attendance. A parent who observed the class said, "Nowadays, since various information comes through smartphones, it is really good that the school teaches correct knowledge." The teacher who planned this sex education stated, "Sex education is necessary for living and is a form of human rights education."
One in Four Minors in Korea Respond They Do Not Use Contraception During Sexual Intercourse
Meanwhile, among minors in Korea, one in four reported not using contraception during sexual intercourse, highlighting concerns about insufficient youth sex education. According to the 2022 Youth Health Behavior Survey by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, 26.1% of youths answered that they "did not use any contraception" during sexual intercourse in 2022. This rate has remained between 20% and 30% over the past five years: 29.8% in 2018, 31.0% in 2019, 23.7% in 2020, 23.3% in 2021, and 26.1% in 2022.
Meanwhile, it was found that one in four minors in our country did not use contraception during sexual intercourse. There are concerns about the lack of sexual education for adolescents. [Photo by Pixabay]
The rate of sexual experience among minors increased to 6.2% in 2022 compared to 5.7% in 2018, but the annual rate of sex education experience decreased to 69.7% in 2022 from 78.6% in 2018. The Ministry of Education currently mandates at least 15 hours of sex education per grade annually in elementary, middle, and high schools. However, there are criticisms that the lack of specific measures regarding contraception education renders it ineffective.
Lee Myunghwa, director of the Seoul Youth Sexual Culture Center, stated, "Due to the social atmosphere that stigmatizes students' sexual culture, schools are avoiding concrete sex education. Instead of gathering students in an auditorium for lectures, sex education plans should be designed annually to be experiential and discussion-based, tailored to students' levels, and implemented in cooperation with specialized institutions," she emphasized.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
