Shanghai's female university students will be recruited as part
of a three-year program to provide sex education to teenage
girls.
The Baoshan Subdistrict in Zhabei District has begun the project
to enlist 200 students to tutor about 3,000 teenagers in the
region.
To give girls comprehensive help, the subdistrict set up a
"green apple club" in July, 2005. The peer education plan is under
the club, officials said yesterday.
"Girls are like green apples, which are lovely but not mature,"
said Xu Zhongping, director of the subdistrict's family planning
department and chief of the club. "These university students are
also called Sister Apple in the program."
The club is the city's first facility to focus on young girls'
health development, offering financial, psychological and health
advice.
"Proper education on reproductive health and methods of self
protection are very important to ensure girls' healthy
development," Xu said.
"Education from school and parents are not enough.
"The subdistrict can only hold lectures, so peer education is a
good way to promote sex knowledge to girls who are likely to accept
guidance from their Sister Apples."
All volunteers will undergo training on communication skills,
health knowledge and sex-related disease prevention before offering
consultation and services to teenagers.
"In fact, the program can be an education opportunity for the
volunteers themselves," she said.
(Shanghai Daily August 20, 2007)