Sex health education in university.

A sex health information class was introduced to almost 100 students at Capital Normal University. The late Premier Zhou Enlai had suggested sex health education for adolescents in 1963. Although the State Education Commission issued several circulars regarding the development of an educational program about puberty for middle schools the directives were not followed properly. 4000 junior middle school students in Beijing were surveyed to ascertain their sexual psychological development; it was found that the teenagers were maturing sexually at an earlier age. However the age at marriage was late due to a policy of deferred marriage. Despite the importance of guidance during the middle school period teaching materials and teachers are not available. According to Dr. Gao Dewei (chief of the Research Centre for Sexual Health Education for the Capital Normal University) courses should be initiated at normal colleges and universities to provide teachers in this area. Beginning in 1993 a Sex Education Programme was introduced at the university in 3 steps: 1) an elective course in sex health; 2) a series of elective courses for biology majors; and 3) a subsidiary specialty course in sex health education open to students from all departments. Step 3 began in 1995. Sexual morals and ethics sexuality laws sex physiology and psychology sexual health care sex sociology and sex pedagogy are covered.