‘No, no. They would kill me if I did,” said Linda Woharadi, the head teacher of Mathayomprachaniwet School. “They” are the parents of students. And they would be less than impressed if condom vending machines were installed at her school.
According to Ms Linda, many parents believe that condom vending machines are offensive, obscene and endorse sex for students in Mathayom 1-6, aged 13 to 18.
But her 35 years working as an educator have given her a different view on the matter.
“Sex does not have to be a mysterious issue,” she told Spectrum. “Teens might have less self-control than adults, but public openness on the issue would make students safer, because they wouldn’t have to go about it in a sneaky way.
“I am just talking as someone who sees the world for what it is.”
Safety first: The government wants to halve teen pregnancies by distributing 50 million condoms.
PREVENT AND PROTECT
Health Ministry statistics show that from 2005 to 2014, an average of 35 in every 100,000 people aged 10 to 19 became infected with sexually transmitted diseases, up from eight in every 100,000 a decade earlier.
Department of Health figures also reveal there were 3,725 new mothers aged 15-19 in 2012, more than double the 1,465 recorded in the year 2000.
The government distributes condoms throughout the country under several national initiatives, including the Integrated Framework for Prevention of Teen Pregnancy 2015-2024.
The plan aims to cut teen pregnancy rates in half by distributing more than 50 million condoms, with 37 million expected to be handed to young people.
Early last month, the Department of Disease Control and the Health Ministry also published a condom strategy for the next four years, outlining how officials intend to stem the spread of STDs. One of its goals is “to adjust public attitudes so that condoms are seen as an ordinary medical item”.
The strategy threw its weight behind the installation of condom vending machines in schools nationwide, to allow teens better access to cheap and safe condoms.
The plan itself escaped wide public debate, but the response from the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) chief caused a stir.
Kamol Rodklai quickly denounced the idea of having condom machines in schools, arguing that it is “highly inappropriate” and a form of “premature sexual exposure”.
Sophon Mekthon, the Health Ministry official in charge of the national condom strategy, told Spectrum the proposal for condom machines in schools is “no longer on the table”, though other ideas in the strategic plan are being carried forward.
Central government officials are not the only ones to have faced a backlash over condom machines.
Late last month, Bangkok City Hall revealed that it removed several condom vending machines from public schools and parks, including Saranrom Park, after complaints from members of the public who found the machines “disturbing”.
Colourful cover: An average of 35 in every 100,000 teenagers have suffered from STDs.
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
Despite this, work to change public opinion is gathering pace. In Udon Thani, local Health Ministry official Pensiri Srichan has been running a scheme to distribute condoms in remote parts of the province, where tradition still plays a major part in family relations and a lack of convenience stores makes condoms more difficult to access for local teens.
Ms Pensiri’s two-year project received most of its funding from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and falls under the administration of Udon Thani provincial health office. She is working across 10 districts, covering about half of the 300,000 young people in Udon Thani.
The project underwent a research phase from 2011 and was launched officially in 2013. At the time of this preliminary study, Ms Pensiri faced stiff criticism from parents, who accused her of trying to lead their children into having sex.
The change in mood since then has convinced her that improving condom distribution rests largely on changing people’s perception of the issue.
“We tried to work on attitude adjustment long before condoms were introduced to the community,” she said.
“From 2011, we spent time talking to village leaders, female leaders and elders about the issue, before slowly recruiting them as our ‘condom contact people.’ ”
These contacts can supply local teens with condoms provided by Ms Pensiri’s health office. Their role in the project led to it being dubbed the Phuyai Jaidee or “kind adult” scheme.
After several workshops, local parents started reporting positive changes in their children. The young people were coming home earlier and helping out more around the house. The teens no longer feared being scolded by their parents, Ms Pensiri said, since family relations took on a new atmosphere of openness.
There are 30 “kind adults” in each tambon, with a total of 300 under the project. The network has been expanding, since it is led by the community and based on word-of-mouth.
“We started by working with adults so that they could first talk about the issue of safe sex among themselves, and then discuss it with the young people,” Ms Pensiri said.
“We also worked with the teens so they could talk with their friends, who might be the children or relatives of adults who are already part of the project. Teens who get into trouble know who to go to, or at least their friends know who to go to.”
For every 1,000 teenage girls aged 15-19 in the province, 59 became mothers in 2013. However, this figure dropped to 54 last year. Ms Pensiri expects the rate of teen pregnancies in the province to drop to 39 in 1,000 this year.
Skills for life: Panyapiwat College gives out about 200 condoms each week. About 80% of the students who ask for free condoms are boys.
FREE FOR ALL
An innovative approach to tackling teen pregnancy and STD infections is also under way in a Bangkok vocational college, where students are more likely to be financially independent from their parents or to have left home, compared to their peers in public schools.
For the past few years, Supanee Semsukkree, a counsellor at Panyapiwat Technological College, has been training college staff in a free condom distribution project for all students aged 16-18.
Wanida Wangjit, 31, is a full-time librarian at the college, though she has a second unofficial role as a “condom contact”.
The quiet corner of the library is the perfect spot for teens — both male and female — to approach her and ask for supplies.
Ms Wanida uses the opportunity to strike up conversations about their personal situations, such as who they are dating, their points of view on various issues and details about their parents.
This builds trust, Ms Wanida said, adding that the more she understands their situation the easier it is to protect them from unwanted pregnancies and STDs.
“If I had 30 students under my watch this semester, I’m sure none of them would encounter pregnancy or diseases,” she said.
Teens who approach her are given counselling and guidance throughout the school year, rather than being scrutinised.
Panyapiwat gives out around 200 condoms each week to an undisclosed number of teens among almost 2,000 students at the college, though around 80% of the students who ask for free condoms are boys.
Ms Wanida said students who come to her are never asked to sign their names in exchange for help. She believes this discretion is what makes the project a success, warning that students would be intimidated if they were made to follow a bureaucratic procedure to get condoms.
HELPING HANDS
Ms Supanee’s free condom project at Panyapiwat is part of a nationwide plan to introduce “friendly corners” in schools, coordinated by the Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand (Ppat) and the National Health Security Office (NHSO).
In 2011, 43 female students at Panyapiwat fell pregnant, with 44 the following year. Ms Supanee’s free condom initiative began in 2012 and the number of pregnant teens at the college dropped to 23 in 2013.
Somchai Kamthong, an officer for Ppat, told Spectrum that free condom distribution among teens is imperative, given the alarming rate of teen pregnancies and STD infections.
He not only supports vending machines in schools, but said the condoms should be distributed free of charge.
“Condom vending machines allow teenagers to take responsibility on an individual level. Inaccessibility to condoms occurs in many ways. Students in uniform queuing up to buy condoms in a convenience store is not a typical sight, and the commercial prices are sometimes beyond their reach.
“Seeing young people thinking about using condoms makes me glad because it shows they are ready to take care of themselves. Anything else is secondary.”
Ms Wanida said that her approach meant she was able to talk to students before they decided to have sex.
“The free condoms are a preventive measure. The only students who get pregnant here are those that we haven’t come into contact with,” she said.
“The first time we come across them is when they are already pregnant and are applying to suspend school for a year or even abandoning their studies.”
PARENTS FIGHT BACK
Ms Linda, the head teacher, learned the hard way about the strong reaction a school condom vending machine could provoke.
In 2009, while she was serving as principal of Bangkok’s Ban Bangkapi School, a condom machine was placed there under a joint-project between Mahidol University and Bangkok City Hall.
In less than two weeks, the initiative turned sour.
“It received quite a good response from the students,” Ms Linda recalled. “Some of them just distributed the condoms from the machine for fun. It was a new thing for them.”
Shortly afterwards, a group of parents made a complaint to the Prime Minister’s Office, resulting in the machine being taken out and the idea being buried for good.
Still, Ms Linda said she wanted condom vending machines to be installed in all schools.
“I wholeheartedly agree with condom vending machines being placed in schools, but the whole system — health, educational and social agencies — need to get together to make it work,” she said.
“There would never be any suggestion that students should be having sex, if that’s what parents fear.
“In fact, my surveys of students at Ban Bangkapi in 2009 and 2010 showed that they thought condom machines were actually a kind of warning, and did not make them want to have sex more.”
Ms Supanee agreed: “Just how exactly do counsellors encourage students to have sex? We are not teaching them to have sex. Most of the students who ask for condoms from us already know what it is and how to use it.”
‘AT A CROSSROADS’
Chaloemchai Panlert, an academic officer at Obec, said that Thailand was at the crossroads between conservative ways of thinking and the concept of safe sex. Ultimately, he said, educators and schools should not be left to bear the weight of sex education alone.
“The controversy over school condom machines reflects many wider issues, including how schools should not be the only institutions dealing with the problem of sex among teens,” he said.
“Networks of parents and medical personnel should step up to educate and advise our people. Thai society is good at the theoretical side of things, but we’re lacking on how to put that into practice.
“Perhaps condom machines are a bit too open for our society, so a more compromising approach should be considered, such as providing condoms through counsellors. Many schools should apply this approach.
“We should remember that factors outside schools also play a part, particularly the media and wider society, which shape the way the young people think.”
OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Ms Wanida is concerned about how much social media influences young people’s perception of sex. She fears students feel they have to imitate the kind of sex they are exposed to on the internet.
“Just look at the how many internet clips we see of girls and boys shouting about how, when, where and with whom they have had sex. Kids emulate these things. They see it as cool, which makes it difficult to tell them otherwise.”
Ms Pensiri said school executives face some tough choices on the issue of condom vending machines.
“Parental disapproval could mean fewer enrolments the following year,” she admitted.
“What I want to see most is a well-rounded approach to sex education, supported by all members of the community.
"Access to condoms is actually just a sub-topic of that.”
Ms Linda said society should stop playing the blame game and hand-wringing over the state of modern youth.
“Just like pop music in the old days, social media, teen pregnancy and STDs are social phenomena that we have to deal with every day and in every school,” she said.
“I don’t think parents and schools should blame each other for what happens.”
A male student from Panyapiwat is unequivocal about the need for access to condoms.
“I don’t mind whether condoms are provided or distributed through machines, but they have to be available,” he said.
“Sex during the school year is no longer considered taboo.
"Access to condoms is good because students will not get pregnant and they can graduate the same time their friends do.”
Another female student agreed with the idea of condom vending machines because “sex is normal”. “Telling kids how to protect themselves is easier than telling them not to have sex at all,” she added.
Ms Pensiri believes the answer to solving the issue, and to improving the lives of families, lies on the home front: “If parents can start to talk about sex openly with their children, other things will become just as easy.” n