Experts insist on the obligation of sex education in schools and warn that the National Curriculum for Sex Education, created in 2021, has not been applied.
The Chinese demographic crisis has worsened for years. The fertility rate has fallen to alarming minimums, last year for lower value since 1980, divorces increasingly increase and the population has been constantly declining since 2022. In this year, the country’s fertility rate has fallen to only 1.09 children per woman, well below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman needed to stay stable.
Experts who the solution to safeguard the future of the nation is in the education of young people, and are increasingly appealing to the obligation of Sex education in schools.
“The sooner we educate young people about reproductive health, the better we can protect their future fertility,” said He Dan, one of the main demographers and director of the China Population and Development Research Center, cited by a parliamentary meeting in Beijing.
The Chinese government has already announced plans to introduce BRATES IN NATIONAL NATIONAL At the end of this year to encourage families to have more children. But Han believes that the measure, although useful, should be complemented by a comprehensive education program for young people.
Its proposal points to a disadvantage between adolescent sexual maturity and their understanding of reproductive health. This, he argues, leads to an increase in early sexual activity, unwanted pregnancies or insecure abortions.
A lack of a national curriculum for sex education In schools it has been a matter of concern for a long time. In 2020, China passed a change to its law on the protection of minors, making sex education mandatory from June 2021. However, almost four years later, it has not yet been implemented, and many children continue not to have access to essential sex education.
Last year, a study from the Normal University of Beijing concluded that 52% of children in kindergarten and primary and secondary schools had not received any kind of sex education.
Prime Minister Li Qiang, in the government’s annual work report, also pledged to introduce additional policies to encourage birth and respond to the rapid aging of the country’s population.
