Given that the main objective of sex education is to reduce unwanted or unplanned pregnancies and incidents of sexually transmitted diseases, the latest statistics for teen pregnancies in Hong Kong shows an increasingly worrying trend, care group Mother's Choice said.

In 2004 alone, Mother's Choice Pregnant Girls' Services counseled more than 3,100 girls and their family members, compared with about 700 girls in 2003 and 350 in 2002.

According to Hong Kong Family Planning Association statistics, the number of youth abortions have risen from 2,182 in 1999 to 2,603 in 2003.

In another survey conducted by Mother's Choice last year, nearly 80 percent of students said their parents seldom if ever provided them with sex education.

The group argued that the lack of parental guidance and lack of sex education at school were to blame for Hong Kong's high abortion rate.

``We hosted more than 145 parent and student workshops last year and found that most parents feel isolated from their children,'' said Suvan Law, head of pregnant girls' services at Mother's Choice.

``Parents also do not know what kind of sex education they should provide to their children.''

According to a youth sexuality study in 2001 by the Hong Kong Family Planning Association - the latest figures available - nearly 9 percent of 1,186 secondary school form three to seven boys and more than 5 percent of 1,678 girls in the same age group had experienced sexual intercourse.

This compares with less than 6 percent of boys in 1996 survey and 4.5 percent of girls.

Commenting on the increasing trend, the association spokeswoman admitted the target population for sex education is large but they don't have enough resources.

The Education and Manpower Bureau issued a guideline on sex education in schools in 1997. However, frontline social workers and academics say this is only a voluntary guideline and that the implementation is far from effective because it depends on individual schools. Atty Ching, director of TeenAids, an organization which promotes sex and AIDS education for teenagers, said the guideline is virtually useless unless it is made compulsory.

``The guideline looks comprehensive but the school cannot follow it without appropriate teaching materials.'' Ching said.

Working with sex education promotion since 1995, Ching said the sexual knowledge of Hong Kong students is very poor - citing as an example how she has counseled a 21 year-old woman who had had six abortions.

She urged the government to include sex education in the formal curriculum.

Lack of teacher training is also an obstacle in promoting sex education in Hong Kong.

Few local teachers are sufficiently knowledgeable of teenage sex problems and are reluctant or even embarrassed to discuss it, according to Ng Ho-yin, executive committee member of the Hong Kong Sex Culture Society.

Ng, who is also a secondary school teacher, added that teachers fear that providing information about sex and sexuality arouses curiosity and can lead to sexual experimentation, although there is no evidence to support this.

In the past, sex education only focused on biological perspectives and did not address the issue of sexual desire, Ng said. There have been some improvements in adding more psychological elements, but overall these are still lagging.

He said most school timetables are very tight and could not spare extra time for sex education if it were not compulsory.

But the Education and Manpower Bureau will not change its policy, a spokesman said. Rather, it will allow schools the ``flexibility'' to decide if they need to include sex education.

However, in response to some of the criticisms, the government last week launched a new Web site offering teaching materials including discussions on homosexuality and premarital sex.

Ng said this is a good start but a greater effort was required.

``Sex education is more than sex; it also includes interpersonal relationship education,'' Ng said.

Petula Ho, an associate professor of social work at the University of Hong Kong, said sex education policy in Hong Kong is conservative and backward.

``Unlike other countries, there are very few official studies or data available to examine the issue, implying the government has no heart to explore this controversial topic,'' Ho said.

``Sex education policy in Hong Kong has done nothing but reconfirm mainstream mentality: heterosexuality and sexual loyalty.''

Ho said the meaning of sex is narrowly defined and people cannot learn about other aspects of sex such as pleasure seeking and expression of feeling. Sexual exploration - having different sex partners - is also a taboo.

``Sex education - like other education in Hong Kong - only serves to maintain social order and suppress critical thinking,'' Ho said.

But sex education that works starts early, before young people reach puberty.

If children started learning about sex before they were sensitive to the issue, it would be more effective, Ho said, adding young people can store up information provided at any time and recall later when it is needed.

``If we wait until problems break out, it is more difficult,'' Ho said, adding that the facts of sexual intercourse should be taught in kindergartens.

Jonathan Choi, a clinical psychologist at the Breakthrough Counseling Centre, said sex education should include support groups for youth to be effective.

Roughly 30 percent of the center's services involved sex-related counseling last year and its online forum is dominated by sex discussions, Choi said. He suggested that a supportive community for youth encountering sexual problems is more important than sex education.