A survey found that sex was still a taboo topic at school despite an increase in sex education classes in recent years.
The survey was carried out by the Kowloon City District Youth Outreaching Social Service Conference and the social work department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. A total of 714 students aged 12 to 16 from seven secondary schools took part in the poll from October to December last year.
Fifty-one per cent of the respondents said it was taboo to talk to teachers about sex, with a fifth of them saying that teachers were conservative.
Half of the teenagers said sex education classes could be improved by being more informative. Teenagers said they preferred to learn about sex through camps and discussions rather than talks, seminars and exhibitions, which most schools are offering.
The outreach group said the survey showed that teenagers were still bound by traditional values and were unwilling to discuss the topic with teachers and parents.
But the opposite could also be true. Four out of six teachers in charge of sex education being interviewed said they found it embarrassing to talk about sex with students. Five said they did not have relevant teaching materials.
