Latin America lacks decent sex education in its schools
Teenage pregnancy rates are still too high across the region
Two 14-year-old students at Jesus and Mary College, a Roman Catholic girls school in Buenos Aires, squirm as they describe their classes on sex. Last year they learned about fertility and sexual organs (“It was really embarrassing!” says one). This term they have talked about the process of giving birth, but they are not sure what else they will learn. The teachers refused to answer some of the questions that their classmates were allowed to write in anonymously. “They said it wasn’t appropriate to talk about it in school and we could ask our family members these things,” recalls the other.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Birds, bees and not much else”
From the June 25th 2022 edition
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