England shows how to curb teen pregnancies

A decade of effort in England and Wales has resulted in record lows in teenage pregnancies. The rate of conception among teenagers has been halved. Now the World Health Organisation (WHO) is hoping that Thailand, among other countries, will adopt the same successful strategy. 

In order to emulate the English achievement, however, Thailand will first have to revamp its sex education.

At last month’s Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen, a representative of the WHO expressed confidence that Thailand could dramatically reduce its population of teen mothers, although the agency acknowledges that it will take considerable time here too. 

The English approach involved high-quality education in matters of sex and personal relationships and readier access to contraception. Thailand at present lacks both, but there is at least a glimpse of hope in the “teen mum prevention” bill to be enacted next month, the chief aim of which is to improve sex education.

With sex no longer the taboo subject it once was in this country, the opportunity arises to finally show youngsters the intricacies of sex and the importance of sexual responsibility. Our schools have always given the topic a wide berth, as many bashful or prudish parents still do. Now perhaps they will feel obliged to shed their obsolete perspective and begin properly explaining the potential shared joy of sex as well as the risks of unprotected sex.

Legislation has been approved requiring the Education Ministry to design adequate sex-education courses for schoolchildren of different ages. Its officials will have to demonstrate strong commitment to the task and ensure coordination among the participating agencies.

Leaflets cannot convince kids that they need to use condoms when having sex, and nor can preachy sermons that sway between dense science and dubious morality. The International Planned Parenthood Federation was among organisations at the Women Deliver event lamenting the shortcomings of sex education. Its report on the matter ought to open eyes in every country facing a rise in teen pregnancies, which it says offer sex education that’s “too little, too late and too biological”.

The federation has partner organisations in 170 countries telling it that sex education is often outdated and curtails participation by the students. Teachers are often inadequately trained. Course content frequently focuses exclusively on health, as though hygiene was all that mattered, and doesn’t recognise young people as sexually active or at least potentially active. 

You can read Thailand into these global conclusions, with sex education regarded dryly as a matter of health and little if anything to do with individual rights or sexuality.

If the government truly wants to provide quality sex education, it will have to train the trainers too. And teachers and health providers must also begin reaching out to youngsters outside the schools. Out-of-school teenagers form one of the most vulnerable groups in terms of unwanted pregnancies. They have to be educated as well.

And yet the most difficult challenge awaiting the educators lies in changing the attitude of parents and other adults. There is a baseless but entrenched fear that teaching teens about sex encourages them to have sex, and many schoolteachers adhere to this belief too – thinking that the more the youngsters know about sex, the more likely they’ll be to explore it. Thus, wherever possible, the education programme should also involve parents and teachers, weaning them of concerns and negative attitudes.

The government need only look to England and Wales for proof that sex education and access to contraception stem the tide of teen pregnancies. The rate there in 2014 stood at 23 pregnancies per 1,000 teenagers, down from 47 in 1998 – a 51-per-cent in 16 years. As for Thailand, we were at 45 teen mothers per 1,000 teenagers in 2014, even as the overall birth rate continues to decline drastically. We need to start making improvements.