マレーシア：「性教育はまだ不十分」

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=137404

June 01, 2005 20:45 PM

Sex Education Still Ineffective In M'sia, Says Dr Raj


KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 (Bernama) -- Sex education is still lagging and ineffective in Malaysia, a family expert said Wednesday.

Datuk Dr Raj Karim, the Southeast Asia Director for the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), said the Education Ministry should review existing sex education in schools.

She said it was ineffective, as teachers did not have teaching modules and were shy to discuss the subject with the students.

"Knowledge about sex among male adults in Malaysia is also very bad while the women are totally ignorant of ways to avoid men's advances to have sex with them," she told Bernama when met at the IPPF regional meeting.

Dr Raj said countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, which have high promiscuity problems, had started to realise the importance of sex education to tackle social ills.

She said the Education Ministry should devise suitable methods to teach sex education and it would not be wrong to include religious elements.

"It is not a subject that can be taught like Science in the class. It should be taught by a person who have the skills to be a counsellor and must be done informally for students to ask questions," she said.

The Malaysian Federation of Planned Parenthood Associations (MFPPA) Chairman Dr Kamaruzaman Ali said promiscuity among adolescents was difficult to control due to peers' influence and the Internet, besides families viewing sexual problems as a taboo.

He said a study in the United States showed that sex education had succeeded in moulding couples to be loyal to each other and cases of singles frequently changing sex partners have increasingly reduced.

He said a study by condom makers, Durex, said Malaysians start having sex at the age of between 16 and 18.

Dr Kamaruzaman said MFPPA's study found men's marrying age in Malaysia had increased from 21 to 28 while for women it had risen from the teens to 25.

-- BERNAMA