Sex education for young students should start in the primary schools senior grades, at 11-12 years, said Chinese experts attending a recent local forum on population and development in this national capital.

The experts said primary schools seniors are about to enter puberty, so it's necessary to give them basic sex education.

This was echoed by a recent survey conducted on 2,100 students, parents and teachers in the Haidian District. Eighty percent of the respondents agreed on providing senior students of primary schools with basic knowledge about sex and puberty.

Sex and reproduction knowledge were only incorporated into the official school curriculum in September last year, but in most cases, only for high school students.

China, though a country that people rarely discuss sex publicly, has published two sex textbooks over recent years with a more openand rational attitude toward the issue by the government and the general public.

Source: Xinhua