A survey has shown that sex education in schools has been unsuccessful and teenagers' knowledge of the dangers of HIV is inadequate.
Compulsory education that lasts nine years in Hong Kong should give schools enough time to ensure students have a good grounding in sex education.
However, this is not being done and students are not being taught in schools or elsewhere.
As Chinese are more conservative and shy, many parents are unwilling to talk about sex. Most of them also believe their children are not mature enough to discuss this subject, so they are ill-informed.
At school, the emphasis is on exams. As students will not be tested on this subject teachers do not see it as being that important. Many of them lack the skills needed to effectively communicate to pupils what they need to know about sex.
Sex is one of the facets of human development. I believe that practical subjects like sex education are more important than the academic knowledge gleaned from textbooks.
