Let's talk about (safe) sex

TEEN PREGNANCIES

The government has launched a new project, Mae Wai Sai, which means young mother, designed to halt the steady rise in teenage pregnancies seen in the past decade.

The Social Development and Human Security Ministry initiated the project in an attempt to teach Mathayom 1 to 6 (Grade 6-12) students about safe sex and relationships.

It was hoped the lessons would help to reduce teenage pregnancies and slow the rate of sexually transmitted diseases, vice minister Nualphan Lamsam said.

The pilot project began last month at Suwansuttharam Wittaya School in Bangkok's Bang Sue district with 250 young students taking part.

Ms Nualphan said early-age pregnancies remained high even though many adults had tried their best to tackle the problem.

A study by the Thailand Research Fund's Ramajitti Institute found 77,092 girls under the age of 19 became pregnant last year. This compares with 63,385 in 2007. It said that kind of increase would continue every year if no serious action was taken.

On a more worrying note, she said studies had found that most youngsters thought it acceptable to have sex before marriage and live together unmarried.

Ms Nualphan said one problem was that parents were trying to solve the problem themselves without appropriate consultation. There was also a gap in the sexual education of young people - many adults felt sex education was a double-edged sword and were reluctant to teach their children about it.

Sex lessons were needed to teach children to look after themselves.

In the Mae Wai Sai project, many people from academia, NGOs, the government and the private sector had come together to help cut the rate of early pregnancies by providing sex education to those under 20, teaching them about safe sex, raising awareness on unplanned pregnancies and changing the way the public viewed the problem.