Malaysia Considers Providing Sex Education To Participants In National Service Program

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 16 May 2008 - 10:00 PST

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Officials in Malaysia are considering providing sex education to high school graduates who enter the country's national service program, according to Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil, director general of the National Service Department, the AP/Google.com reports. According to the AP/Google.com, sex is often a "sensitive subject" in the "conservative, Muslim majority" country, where couples can be fined for kissing and hugging in public. The country's executive cabinet approved sex education guidelines two years ago, but some advocates say they have not been implemented.

The new sex education program -- recently outlined by Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Ng Yen Yen -- would provide sex education, including HIV prevention, to the tens of thousands of teenagers who are randomly selected each year to participate in the government's mandatory three-month national service training program. Most of the teens selected for the program are ages 17 and 18, the AP/Google.com reports.

According to Adeeba Kamarulzaman, president of the Malaysian AIDS Council, high school students typically receive information only on basic reproduction during science classes, and many teachers are reluctant to discuss other sex-related topics. Kamarulzaman said that including sex education classes in the national service program could be useful, adding that the teenagers "are at the right age to be receiving" sex education (Zappei, AP/Google.com, 5/14).

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