"What is the connection between love and marriage? (Aiqin he hunyin you shenme guanxi?)" This is a question young Chinese people discuss at great length among themselves, but seldom in a school classroom. Yet in Yucai High School, in Beijing's Xuanwu District, teacher Miao Shirong is now encouraging class discussion of this and related topics - "Is 'puppy love' true love?"; "What is the appropriate relationship between the sexes at high school?" - as part of a sex education lesson.

In a small group discussion, students are asked to list the attributes of the ideal spouse. Interestingly, 'gentleness' (wenrou) does not head the list of qualities that the boys are looking for in their future life partners, although it was the invariable first choice of previous generations of men.

This signals a new approach to sex education which, in Chinese schools, traditionally consists in telling students to read at home the 'reproduction' section of biology textbooks, with no further information or discussion.

The new approach, which discusses sex in the context of human relationships, is one of the 'best practices' introduced by the China Family Planning Association in a five-year project, starting in 2000, to "promote reproductive health education among Chinese teenagers and unmarried youth" in twelve urban districts and three counties. PATH, a US-based non-profit organisation specializing in health technologies, policy and management, has provided technical assistance to the Association throughout the project. As it draws to a close the project was reviewed in a 'national advocacy meeting' held in Beijing on April 25.

Local branches of the Association set out to mobilise support from all possible government departments. For example in Beijing the Association persuaded five district-level education authorities to make sex education courses a requirement for first grade students in 240 junior and senior high schools. Education authorities in Shanghai agreed to add ‘life skills education’ to the general curriculum.

In Tianjin, the Association worked with the municipal Propaganda Bureau to influence a ‘youth moral education’ (sixiang daode jianshe) programme that the Bureau leads. In 2004, with seven other government agencies, the Bureau issued a ‘guiding instruction’ (zhidao yijian) to include reproductive health education in the programme. The Bureau also encouraged youth education outreach programmes for juvenile delinquents, migrant labourers and unemployed young people.

In Hubei, the provincial government committed match funding of CNY 500,000 (USD 60,500) per year for five years to support participatory trainings for government officials and parents.

In 2004 matching funds from various government agencies totalled CNY 7 million (USD 847,458), surpassing the Association’s own project budget of CNY 5 million. “It’s a good sign that various levels government would like to complement the project from their own budget,” PATH Project Officer, Chen Jianzhong, told China Development Brief. “It means a better chance of promoting good practices to a much wider community.” However, he adds that while multi-department cooperation has proved quite successful at provincial or lower levels, it still needs improvement at national level.

Founded in 1980, China Family Planning Association has placed young people’s reproductive health at the top of a five-year working strategy developed in 2004. In the same year, the Association began to implement a youth reproductive health programme funded by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), actively promoting in more rural counties best practices from the work undertaken with PATH.

Contact:
Ding Danping +86 (0)10 8465 7984
danpingding@263.net

Marie Stopes China, linked to the Marie Stopes International network, has pioneered sexual health education among Chinese junior high school students. In July 2004 it launched a two-year project in six outlying areas of Shaanxi and Henan provinces to combine sex education and life skills training with HIV/AIDs prevention. "It makes sense for us to inform teenagers of basic reproductive knowledge before they become sexually active -- especially those likely migrate to cities shortly after junior high school," says Project Officer Cui Qi.

Drawing on past experience in Sichuan, where Marie Stopes distributed purpose written 'You & Me' newspapers to target students, the ongoing project includes in-service training of teachers who are expected to make use of routine 'class meeting' (banhui) periods to facilitate students' discussion of these materials. "We find that most teachers have recognized reproductive health education as a must, though they still lack skills to deal with some sensitive topics" Ms. Cui told China Development Brief. "Apart from regular trainings, we compile and circulate a teachers' newsletter to provide more learning support for teachers."

Contact:
Cui Qi +86 (0)10 8485 4998
msc@youandme.net.cn

Report by Tina Qian , May 8 2005