Textbooks to include sex education

Ministry of Education to improve safety, health instruction in schools

Sexual health education and sexual harassment prevention should be included in textbooks for primary and secondary school students, the Ministry of Education said.

As part of safety and health education, which is expected to be included in textbooks used by students, the ministry said primary school students should learn about concepts including puberty, sex, and the primary sexual characteristics present at birth and the secondary ones that develop later.

They should know about the characteristics of sexual harassment and sexual assault of young children and how to protect themselves and seek help from others, the ministry said in a guideline issued on Monday.

Middle school students need to learn to understand and accept the changes their body goes through during puberty, and know about safe sex, the risks involved in unprotected sex, and effective contraception methods.

They need to be able to identify sexual harassment and assault, know which factors around them might lead to such incidents, and improve their ability to prevent them.

High school students should know about laws and regulations on marriage and having children and know basic principles in handling relationship problems.

They should master skills in sexual harassment and assault prevention and be able to call the police safely in case of sexual assault.

Ruan Qilin, a criminal law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said schools need to offer young students sex education as they are exposed to sexual scenes and information online at a young age.

Many Chinese parents tend to be conservative and do not want to talk with their children about sex, so it is even more important for schools to offer age-appropriate guidance, he said.

A study by the Girls Protection Fund of the China Foundation of Culture and Arts for Children in March found that 332 cases of sexual assault against children were reported by the media last year, with the youngest victim being 1 year old.

The study said 74 percent of the cases were perpetrated by people the children knew, with teachers and school faculty accounting for 30 percent and relatives accounting for 20 percent.

Any teacher caught abusing, molesting or sexually harassing students will be banned from teaching at any school, the ministry said in 2018.

Their teaching credentials, academic titles and honors will also be revoked, and their information will be recorded in the national teachers' information system and no school will be allowed to hire them again, it said.

The Supreme People's Court said in 2019 that criminals committing sexual assaults against children that are "extremely vile in nature" and cause "extremely severe consequences" would be sentenced to death with no leniency.

Courts across the country concluded 4,159 cases involving sex offenses against children from January to November 2019, the top court said.

In July 2019, the Linyi Intermediate People's Court in Shandong province executed He Long, a criminal who raped girls under the age of 14 and forced them into prostitution.