No condom machines in schools: Kamol
Other ways to fight hiv, students don't think much about sex: commission chief
KAMOL RODKLAI, head of the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec), said yesterday that he would not allow the installation of condom machines at secondary schools.
“I disagree and will not allow condom-dispensing machines in schools. I want the campaign to be [conducted] in another way. The students also don’t really think much about [sex], so there is no need to install the devices in schools,” he said.
Making condoms available in schools is part of the Public Health Ministry’s plans to prevent the spread of HIV/Aids, which also includes providing information to the public.
Kamol said he had not received any request yet to install condom machines, but if he did, he would certainly turn it down. Installing such a device, he said, could become a double-edged sword by encouraging students to be curious about sex prematurely.
Aids Access Foundation director Nimit Tienudom, however, said the Public Health Ministry’s policy to reintroduce condom-vending machines at schools could help prevent sexually transmitted diseases, especially Aids, and premature pregnancy.
“This measure would help youngsters buy condoms cheaply, and they would not need to face sellers,” he said.
Nimit said his foundation would propose that the Public Health Ministry propel forward a national agenda for condom access to ensure they are sufficiently and thoroughly distributed, while also emphasising the importance of condom usage to prevent sexually related problems.
Condom vending machines were first installed in schools in 2011; Bangkok’s Ban Bangkapi School got four of them. However, they lasted only six months before the project folded amid protests by students and parents.
Department of Disease Control chief Dr Sophon Mekthon said the latest plan to install condom machines was part of a five-year strategic plan (2015-2019) of the National Aids Prevention and Alleviation Committee to boost youth access to protection. However, it would not be compulsory. If a school is ready to adopt this scheme, the department is prepared to install the machines, while those who thought there were better ways to prevent HIV/Aids among youth could do as they saw fit. The schools already provided lessons about safe sex.
Regarding the policy to hand out clean needles to drug addicts, he said it remained unclear through which channel these needles would be distributed. Non-governmental organisations with wide information networks were working on these details.
