This blog is intended to go along with Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues, by John R. Weeks, published by Cengage Learning. The latest edition is the 13th (it will be out in January 2020), but this blog is meant to complement any edition of the book by showing the way in which demographic issues are regularly in the news.

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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Sex Ed About to Start in Malaysian Schools

Somewhat unexpectedly for a Muslim-majority country, Malaysia has announced that next year it will start teaching sec education classes throughout the country. This has been brought about by an increase in out of wedlock teenage pregnancies, leading to babies being abandoned by their mothers.

Giving birth out of wedlock carries a strong social stigma in Malaysia, a multicultural society embracing Muslim Malays as well as ethnic Chinese and Indian communities.
In 2009 there were 79 cases of baby-dumping but as of mid-September this year there had already been about 70, sparking alarm among authorities and in the community.
In May, the nation's first "baby hatch" centre for rescuing unwanted newborns was introduced in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. The centre, modelled on similar services in Germany, Japan and Pakistan, allows mothers to leave their babies anonymously.
The traditional way to prevent out of wedlock births is by oppressive surveillance of teenage girls, so the introduction of sex ed classes can only be seen as a positive move toward greater gender equity.

2 comments:

  1. I think that this is a problem, not just in Malaysia but all over the world. Every country in the world should set aside there social stigmas about out of wedlock pregnancies and help prevent the problem in the first place. Sex education in childhood will definitly help alleviate the problem but it wont cure it. Furthermore, I think countries should adopt "Safe Haven Laws" to protect babies from being killed, once they have been abondoned.

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  2. This is a grest idea! I think this is the first step to reduce this problem. Educating teens in certain ways has shown to work effectively to reduce early teen pregnancies. These kinds of interventions have shown to work in the U.S. school systems and so this is a great step to helping these countries.

    The deep reason why these young women are having babies so early is primarily because they are not educated in how to deal with situation and how to prevent it. Great idea! Would love to hear what the results are.

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