A 2011 survey by Indonesia's Ministry of Health indicated that only 20% of Indonesians

aged 15-24 had a good knowledge of HIV. Further research conducted by the Ministry of Health
had shown that 42 per cent of people living with HIV in Indonesia were aged 20-29. A survey
commissioned by international health organizations in 2011 for World Contraception Day showed
that nearly half of Indonesians surveyed had a close friend or family member who had an
unplanned pregnancy in recent years, more than Thailand, India or China.
Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (IPPA) has been training hundreds of peer educators as part of its work
on promoting and empowering young people to assert their rights. The work has been part of their advocacy on
legislative change which would ensure thatsexuality education becomes part of Indonesia's national curriculum. More
than 50 school in yogyakarta have agred to use IPPA curriculum (IPPF.COM)

PROS

Sex education in schools can help children understand the impact of sex in their
lives. It dispels myths related to sex and broadens their horizon.

It can also answer all the questions that they have regarding their changing body
and hormonal surges.

Children are often inquisitive about the other gender. Sex education in school can
help them understand the differences and keep the desire to explore things for
themselves in check.

Child sexual abuse is a social malice that is afflicting thousands worldwide. Sex
education in schools can play an active role in curbing the incidence of abuse as through
this medium children can be made aware of the difference between good and bad touch.

It is much better to teach children about sexual health in school rather letting them
use other resources, such as pornographic material and the internet. This is important
because avenues, such as the internet have a huge store of information that might be
misleading.

With problems, such as teenage pregnancies and transmission of STDs on the rise,
it is only appropriate that sex education is made accessible in school so that the most
number of children can be made aware.

It transforms children into responsible adults. It is a known fact that teenagers

today turn sexually active, therefore, sex education can help them understand the benefit
of abstinence in the early years or it can at least teach them how to be responsible
sexually active people.

CONS

Mostly teachers who are given the task of teaching sex education to students are
not experts and have vague ideas about sexual health themselves. This is even more
harmful as incorrect information is extremely lethal as it can actually leave a wrong

impression on the students. Children have an impressionable mind and incorrect

information imparted at an early age can actually transform them into ignorant adults.

Students may still be subject to embarrassment or excitable by subject matter. If

not taught properly, sex education in school can become a matter of ridicule and students
may not take any interest in it.

The fact that in most schools sex education is treated like an extracurricular course
and not a primary one. If the authorising body is not serious about it then they cannot
expect that students and teachers will be interested in it.

Sex education at school may be at odds with the religious ideologies. Unless these
disparities are sorted out by someone, who is aware of the two ideologies, sex education
at school can actually confuse the students more.