Chen Wei, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress, called for comprehensive sex education to become a formal part of China's national curriculum and said classes could start as early as kindergarten. [1]
Chen said China still has a long way to go on sex education compared with international norms and called for a dedicated program to train teachers. [1]
He said there are no full-time sexuality education teacher posts at the basic education level, so classes are usually taught temporarily by teachers from other subjects. He also said sex education remains marginalized in the school curriculum and often goes no further than basic physiology. [1]
"Last year I proposed that we are lacking locally developed sex education textbooks in China. As you can see, new textbooks have now been introduced, but we still have a shortage of professional teachers," Chen said. "Without professional teachers, the lessons never really begin." [1]
The report cited an analysis of 2024 child sexual assault cases by the Girls' Protection public welfare team, based on 205 publicly reported media cases, which said more than 690 children were victimized. It said more than 90% of the victims were girls and 82.74% of the crimes were committed by acquaintances. [1]
Global Times reported the comments in March 2026 on the sidelines of that year's "two sessions." [1]
