China has made leaps of progress in all matters except one – in imparting sex education to its society. The knowledge is almost missing from their school curriculum, except perhaps a terse instruction by school teachers to their female students to swallow a pill if they ever got raped. That is what constitutes formal sex education in China.

Statistics procured paints a dreary picture. Even as China marks the World Aid’s Day, you cannot ignore the staggeringly high HIV infections and abortion rates.

In terms of percentages – in 2015 alone there were nearly 115,000 new HIV infections reported according to the country’s STD/ AIDS Prevention and Control Board. Nearly 14% of them fell in the age category of 15 to 24. And in 2016 this number is even higher.

Chinese universities have begun to install vending machines to supply home testing kits to detect HIV.  But there are no preventive measures being taken. The foremost requirement is sex education. Even though there has been some progress, it isn’t enough considering the alarming growth of HIV infected citizens.

Sex education faces a huge uphill task. Their society is closed to the subject. Youth is given very basic knowledge such as information about condoms etc. There are some voluntary organizations springing up such as Bloom and Blossom that are providing sex education and spread awareness over the internet.

There are many women who get abortion done, as they are left with no other choice. Most of them are unprepared for such procedures. Each year, China performs nearly 13 million abortions and these too are only the reported cases. The unreported number is even higher.  The reason to undergo abortion is because women are completely unaware of the concept of safe sex and contraceptives.  Even advertisements underplay the seriousness involved in such a procedure.

Read More : Teaching Methods Influence Your Ability To Learn Difficult Subjects