Hong Kong education authorities defend telling students to avoid premarital sex

Hong Kong’s education authorities have rejected criticism of their advice to secondary school pupils to refuse premarital sex and control their impulses, asking them to “leave the scene immediately” or go to play badminton together when such desires arise.

The Education Bureau on Friday defended its suggestions released in July in guidelines for the curriculum of citizenship, economics and society for Form One to Three students, stressing the need for students to cultivate “comprehensive values and enable them to make responsible decisions”.

The guidelines asked students to pledge to control their sexual impulses, saying if a boy and girl had intimate physical contact that induced desire, they should either “leave the scene immediately” or go to play badminton together.

But the guidelines were slammed by some as being “out of touch” and unrealistic.

“Some comments said that sex education in Hong Kong had failed to keep up with the development of modern society. The bureau must point out that this view is incorrect,” the bureau said on its website on Friday.

“The concept of sex education in Hong Kong school curriculum is to cultivate students to become people with comprehensive values and enable them to make informed and responsible decisions about sexual issues in the future when their thoughts and conditions are mature.

“It is unprofessional and irresponsible to encourage students who are unable to bear the consequences to make so-called informed decisions.”

It said it needed to guide schools to improve students’ awareness of self-protection and cultivate their attitudes of self-discipline and abiding by the law.

“Although society holds different opinions on premarital sex, we should provide adequate protection to underage students and remind them that Hong Kong laws impose severe penalties on sex-related offences,” it said.

Legislator Gary Zhang Xinyu hit out at the way the teaching materials were written, calling them confusing for the public.

“We should teach young people to love themselves and be responsible for intimate relationships,” he said on his Facebook, adding that education should focus on teaching minors about laws covering sex.

As a lawmaker and father, he urged authorities to review the content given the criticism from society.

He told the Post on Friday authorities’ condemnation of all premarital sex was out of touch, saying if adults were concerned, they should be responsible for what they did.

“It totally contradicts the mainstream values of the society,” he said.