Teacher In China Goes Viral For Holding Sex Ed Lessons For Teenage Students On 1st Day Of School

A teacher from Guizhou, China, has gone viral online for organising sex education lessons for her 16-year-old students on their very first day of school.

Speaking to Chinese media, the 26-year-old biology teacher, Ms Fu, said she discovered her students had little knowledge on sex and anatomy.

As such, Ms Fu, who is in charge of science lessons for four classes of grade 10 students (equivalent to Sec 4 in Singapore), started planning sex ed lessons last semester.

She prepared powerpoint slides about puberty, physical changes, and menstrual cycles, and also taught her students the importance of protecting themselves against sexual assault and the transmission of HIV and other STDs.

When one of her male students said he did not know what sanitary pads looked like, she handed him one, and he opened the packet so that other boys who didn't know could learn something new too.

Ms Fu hopes that through the use of science, her lessons on sex ed will be well accepted by her students. She does not want them to avoid the topic just because they think it might be “embarrassing or shameful to speak about”.

“This is something that must be discussed. To avoid it is akin to burying one’s head in the sand. When the need arises, this knowledge will help the students feel less panicked, and they will be better equipped to help themselves, and even those around them,” she said.

Since 2021, it has been made mandatory for schools in China to conduct “age-appropriate sex education for minors”, though it is not reported whether the lessons are standardised throughout institutions.

Ms Fu has earned praise for all the thought and effort she had put into her classes, with majority of netizens agreeing that it is “beneficial to teach students about sex ed early” as they are “maturing really fast these days”.

“Kids will be curious regardless, so it’s better that they receive education from a reliable source,” read a popular take.