Singapore - 75% of S'pore teens do not know how to use a condom

SINGAPORE - About 75 per cent of teenagers in Singapore do not know how to use a condom.

That was the finding of a survey carried out by the National University of Singapore (NUS) involving 900 sexually active teens in the republic, reported China Press.

The survey found that more than three-quarter of the teens who took part in the exercise did not know how to use the form of protection.

Last year, there were 1,737 pregnancies involving girls under 20 in the republic.

While there was a reduction from the number of cases in 2007, which saw 2,183 girls getting pregnant before the age of 20, the situation remained worrying, the newspaper reported.

The sex education module introduced by the Singaporean Education Department includes methods of contraception.

However, the department stressed that "saying no to pre-marital sex" was still the message it wanted to send out.

The department was also strengthening the social media element in its sex education module to help students master skills that they needed to better protect themselves online.

The Star/Asia News Network