Ban on expelling pregnant teens a huge step forward, but…

Thailand’s rate of teenage pregnancies is the second highest in Southeast Asia, affecting the futures of young parents and our society’s development. With menstruation starting at ages as young as 9, sex education – which must include age-appropriate relationship management, LGBT issues, contraception, sexting, masturbation, etc, and take religious and cultural characteristics into account – should start as early as Prathom 4. Our Public Health Ministry has a programme to reduce teenage pregnancies by half, based on the highly successful Teenage Pregnancy Knowledge Exchange at the University of Bedfordshire. The Education Ministry should collaborate to achieve that goal.
Burin Kantabutra