Sex education is a broad term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual

reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and
responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and other aspects of human sexual behavior. Common
avenues for sex education are parents or caregivers, school programs, and public health campaigns.

Sex education may also be described as "sexuality education", which means that it encompasses
education about all aspects of sexuality, including information about family planning,
reproduction (fertilization, conception and development of the embryo and fetus, through to
childbirth), plus information about all aspects of one's sexuality including: body image, sexual
orientation, sexual pleasure, values, decision making, communication, dating, relationships,
sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and how to avoid them, and birth control methods.

Sex education may be taught informally, such as when someone receives information from a
conversation with a parent, friend, religious leader, or through the media. It may also be
delivered through sex self-help authors, magazine advice columnists, sex columnists, or through
sex education web sites. Formal sex education occurs when schools or health care providers offer
sex education.

Sometimes formal sex education is taught as a full course as part of the curriculum in junior high
school or high school. Other times it is only one unit within a more broad biology class, health
class, home economics class, or physical education class. Some schools offer no sex education,
since it remains a controversial issue in several countries, particularly the United States
(especially with regard to the age at which children should start receiving such education, the
amount of detail that is revealed, and topics dealing with human sexual behavior, e.g. safe sex
practices, masturbation, premarital sex, and sexual ethics).

In 1936, Wilhelm Reich commented that sex education of his time was a work of deception,
focusing on biology while concealing excitement-arousal, which is what a pubescent individual
is mostly interested in. Reich added that this emphasis obscures what he believed to be a basic
psychological principle: that all worries and difficulties originate from unsatisfied sexual
impulses.[1]

When sex education is contentiously debated, the chief controversial points are whether covering
child sexuality is valuable or detrimental; the use of birth control such as condoms and hormonal
contraception; and the impact of such use on pregnancy outside marriage, teenage pregnancy,
and the transmission of STIs. Increasing support for abstinence-only sex education by
conservative groups has been one of the primary causes of this controversy. Countries with
conservative attitudes towards sex education (including the UK and the U.S.) have a higher
incidence of STIs and teenage pregnancy.[2]

The existence of AIDS has given a new sense of urgency to the topic of sex education. In many
African nations, where AIDS is at epidemic levels (see HIV/AIDS in Africa), sex education is
seen by most scientists as a vital public health strategy. Some international organizations such as
Planned Parenthood consider that broad sex education programs have global benefits, such as
controlling the risk of overpopulation and the advancement of women's rights (see also
reproductive rights). The use of mass media campaigns, however, has sometimes resulted in high
levels of "awareness" coupled with essentially superficial knowledge of HIV transmission[3].

According to SIECUS, the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States,
93% of adults they surveyed support sexuality education in high school and 84% support it in
junior high school.[4] In fact, 88% of parents of junior high school students and 80% of parents of
high school students believe that sex education in school makes it easier for them to talk to their
adolescents about sex.[5] Also, 92% of adolescents report that they want both to talk to their
parents about sex and to have comprehensive in-school sex education.[6] Furthermore, a "...study,
conducted by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, found that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs are ineffective."[7]

Debate on Sex Education in Malaysia Rises with Teen Pregnancies

Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, Jul 21 (IPS) - The prospect of motherhood filled 17-year-old Fatimah's
heart with dread. This, the Muslim youngster told the magistrate she appeared before in
March, is why she left her newborn baby to die in a garbage bag here in the Malaysian
capital four months ago. "I feared punishment and condemnation from my family and
teachers in college," said Fatimah (not her real name).

The teenage mother was charged with abandoning her baby - a crime in this moderate Muslim-
majority country, whose public has been increasingly worried by a spate of media reports police
finding dead or alive newborn babies in trash bins and public places, including convenience
stores. "I had nowhere to go. I hid the pregnancy by wearing loose clothes," Fatimah told the
court when her case came up for trial in May. In the end, Fatimah, whose relationship with her
boyfriend had ended, delivered a baby girl on the stairs of a shop, alone.

Under Section 317 of Malaysia's Penal Code, the crime of intentionally abandoning a child
below the age of 12 is punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment. But the magistrate took
her youth and other mitigating factors into consideration and placed her on a good behaviour
bond. Based on police reports, over 100 babies were abandoned in 2006, many of them left by
teenagers and young adults, students and desperate foreign migrant workers. This figure could
have risen in subsequent years, since many such incidents go unreported, police say.

The phenomenon is tragic, activists say, noting that Malaysia has a First-World information
infrastructure that could be readily harnessed to educate the youth on reproductive and sexual
health, especially in secondary schools.

But religious opposition has stalled the integration of sex education in school curricula.
Echoing the views of the conservative sector, prominent cleric Nik Aziz Nik Mat said that sex
education in schools would encourage teenage sexual promiscuity. "The best way to resolve this
phenomenon is to instill greater Islamic values (in young people)," Nik Aziz was quoted as
saying in May.

Even former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has said that sex education was unnecessary
because students are already getting Islamic and moral education. "We keep hearing about
newborn babies found in garbage cans, which is a sad matter," Mahathir has said.

The government's policy on sex education is far from clear. But amid a debate on unwanted
teenage pregnancies, it has formed a committee to look into whether to teach sex education in
classes. While some aspects of reproductive system are taught in science classes, there is little or
nothing on sex, much less safer sex.

The government has also announced plans to set up an interactive portal in schools.

This is part of attempts to educate students about sexuality, abstaining from premarital sex, and
the consequences of unsafe sex, said Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, the minister for Women, Family and
Community Development.

"The portal will also equip them with necessary skills or tips on how to fend off sexual
advances," she told IPS. "The root of problem is that they (teenagers) do not know the risk
involved. Most of the cases of abandoned babies are the result of unwanted pregnancies."

But others point out that a judgemental approach that focuses on penalties, more than a frank,
accurate and educational one, does not really reach young people effectively. Malaysian society
is "more focused on condemning and punishing (sexual behaviour among youth) and not on
understanding and helping," lamented Ragunath Kesavan, president of the Malaysian Bar
Council.

"It's a severe form of incongruity that we must face up to and resolve - teach or to ignore (sex
education)," he said, because ignorance is behind the number of unplanned pregnancies and
abandoned babies.

As a result, young people are turning to their peers or the Internet for information about
sexuality. But "such information is sketchy at best, probably romanticised and does not help
young people make the right and safe decision," lawmaker Chong Eng, who has frequently
raised the issue in Parliament, told IPS.

"We cannot to ignore the challenges young people face. We have to teach, guide, and help them
to make the right decisions," he added.

A study by Fatimah Abdullah of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia shows that young women
in their 20s, not just teenagers, abandon their babies, a fact that reflects the severe lack of
knowledge about sexuality even among young adults.
Most young mothers did not even know they were pregnant even after they stopped
menstruating, she said. Her research also showed that some girls could not even distinguish
between their urethral and vaginal openings.

The study, the only one available in the country so far, noted that there was no specific policy or
programme in place to help teenagers deal with unwanted pregnancies.

Yet there are clearly implications for the future of girls and young women. "There is a lot of
social stigma against unwed mothers that may lead young girls to unsafe abortions, to backdoor
practices that can threaten their lives," said a spokesman for United Nations Children's Fund in
Malaysia. "It can have a huge emotional and psychological impact on a girl who feels she has no
other choice but to destroy her baby or give the baby up at birth."

KUALA LUMPUR: Sex Education is unnecessary in Malaysian schools and will not be
introduced as a specific subject, the Dewan Negara was told today.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Puad Zarkashi said at present, elements of sex education in
schools are already incorporated in a subject known as social and reproductive health studies.

The subject was introduced in secondary schools in 1989 and in primary schools in 1994.

"Social and reproductive health studies is taught under health education and encompasses
curricula of a wide variety of subjects such as
biology, science, additional science, moral
studies and religious education," he said.

"As such, there is no need for a specific subject called sex education," he added.

This decision appears to close the discussion on sex education in Malaysia, an issue which has
received support from some ministries and organisations.

The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry for instance held a seminar recently
for students on social and reproductive health in anticipation of sex education being introduced
as a formal subject.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Jalil has expressed
concern on the matter in light of a recent spate of abandoned babies.

The National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) has also come on record to support the
proposal for sex education in schools, although secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng voiced some
reservations.
She said teachers are not confident in teaching sex education as they have acknowledged the lack
of formal training in the complexity and sensitivity of the subject.

In his reply to questions by Senators Doris Sophia Brodi, Datuk Daljit Singh Dalliwal, Datuk
Zainun Mat and Dr M. Malasingam, Puad said social and reproductive health studies teachers
have attended courses held by experienced trainers.

"These courses are designed to expose the teachers to the proper approach which should be
adopted in teaching the subject.

"Our present syllabus also includes modules on the importance of making the right decisions
where sex is concerned," he said.

Replying to Brodi's supplementary question, he said parents should also play their role in
discussing sex education with their children and advising them accordingly.

"This will lessen the sensitivity factor related to sexual activities.

"Parents cannot leave the issue of sex for teachers to handle, they must also speak to their
children about it.