SEX CLASS AT THE MONASTERY

Novices receive education in the facts of life

ANJIRA ASSAVANONDA, HAT YAI, SONGKHLA

The classroom where the 14 novice monks study at Mahapanya School is filled with fun and laughter. To the astonishment of outsiders, they are openly discussing sex.

A bigger surprise: the teacher is a woman.

"Today's lesson is called 'Let's think first'. I'd like you to divide into six groups to think of possible causes and results of premature and unprotected sex," Khru Kung, or Supaporn Sithiphan, tells her students at the start of a sex education class.

The answers from the novices were similar to those you would expect from youths. They cited rape, seduction, revealing clothing and the influence of pornography as factors causing premature and unprotected sex. These, they said, resulted in unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, stress, loss of future opportunities and social condemnation.

When asked how to ensure safe sex, the novices promptly replied "use a condom".

Ms Supaporn introduced the sex education curriculum to the school's 57 students over a year ago after undergoing training funded by the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (Path), an international, non-profit organisation to promote public health.

Her students are novice monks aged 13-18. Many of the novices, from different parts of the country, come from poor or broken homes.

Conservative Buddhists may find it strange that sex is taught in such an unlikely place as a monastery.

But Ms Supaporn has a reason.

"These novice monks are teenagers. The only difference is they are in saffron robes and have religious principles that bar them from doing many things they want. Sex education is necessary for all teenagers no matter if they are monks or laymen," she said.

School records show that 80% of novice students will not continue into monkhood. They will go back into society and get up to all the things that young men do.

Samanera Jenwit Jankham, 14, concedes he was familiar with porn before getting ordained. His primary school friends used to show him porn videos. He wondered what it was like to have sex, and his friends told him he had to experience it for himself.

At school, the Internet has become a common study tool for the novices. Samanera Jenwit said many novices have had the chance to chat online with young women.

"Chatting with a woman is not allowed, but some of us did it secretly. It is just occasional and involves simple boy-and-girl conversation," said the samanera.

"There are moments I feel some sexual drive, and part of me wants to try like other boys my age. But the dharma disciplines force me to control my feelings," he said.

Samanera Jenwit said the curriculum helps him to understand women and sex in a way he has not known before.

"I learn a lot of new knowledge, such as how complicated women's sexual organs are and how a woman becomes pregnant. When I was at primary school, I heard friends say we could get a girl pregnant by external ejaculation, but in this class we learn that is impossible," he said. "Also we learn that a girl won't get pregnant if she has sex during her period."

The young man believes what he has learned in the class will be helpful when he enters the layman's world.

"It is better to teach them these things about sex and male-female relationships so they can handle it properly when they grow up and leave the monastery," said Ms Supaporn.

The lessons she teaches do not cover only intercourse, but also sexual health, caring for oneself, and about emotional relationships and the responsibilities that come with them.

She said she gave it thorough consideration before deciding to start the sex education class.

"Surely there are questions in our society about if it's right to teach novice monks about sexual things, but I believe it will do more good than harm," Ms Supaporn said. "Giving them proper knowledge is better than letting them learn mistakenly on their own."

Phra Mahapol Thitapho, the school principal, said he has never opposed the idea of giving sex education to novice monks.

"Sex is a common thing to every human being. We let our students know so they'll stop wondering about it. They'll understand that sex is just a rotten bait that lures fish to a trap. Once they know, they'll be able to overcome their feelings and pass that knowledge to others," the principal said.

Bangkok Post
Sunday January 28, 2007