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Sexual health clinics could soon be open in every secondary school as part of a drive to cut teenage pregnancies.[Agencies]
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Sexual health clinics could soon be open in every secondary school and college.
All pupils would have easy access to emergency contraception and pregnancy testing without their parents being told.
Around a third of secondary schools in England - almost 1,000 - already have clinics. Some are mobile units shared by a number of schools.
Now an influential study, commissioned by the Government, has recommended extending the coverage to all state secondaries and colleges in a drive to cut teenage pregnancies.
Advocates of the approach say children can be deterred from seeking sexual health services if they have to travel to community centres.
But critics say the policy is a "social experiment" which risks encouraging under-age sex instead of curbing it. Already, the morning-after pill is available to a million schoolgirls.
The survey of school clinic provisions was carried out by the National Children's Bureau on behalf of the Sex Education Forum.
It found that single-sex, faith and independent schools were less likely to have clinics.
Just 14 per cent of all-girl schools and 10 per cent of boys' schools had them. Only a fraction of the clinics restrict services to children over 16 - the legal age of consent. Among further education colleges, which teach four in ten 16-year-olds and growing numbers of 14-year-olds, almost three- quarters have on-site sexual health services.
Some colleges offer condoms only in emergencies but others provide them in vending machines.
The report admits there is a 'lack of research evidence' about the effectiveness of school-based clinics, accessible by children as young as 11.
But it says: 'School is the one place that the large majority of children and young people attend.
'Not all young people will need to use a sexual health service at school age, but providing a service in school is the best way of making sure that those young people who need the service can use it.'
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(Agencies)
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英國所有的中學和大學不久將開設性健康咨詢室。
今后，所有學生都可以在不告知家長的情況下方便地得到緊急避孕和驗孕服務。
目前英國已有約三分之一、近1000所中學開設了性健康咨詢室。其中一些是流動性的，為幾所學校共用。
日前，由英國政府委托開展的一項重量級研究建議，為降低青少年懷孕率，應該讓性健康咨詢室走進所有國立中學和大學。
這項建議的倡導者稱，如果非要到社區衛生服務中心去尋求幫助，孩子們可能會有顧慮。
但批評人士稱該政策是一種“社會實驗”，是在鼓勵而不是防止青少年過早發生性行為。而且對于很多女學生來說，買緊急避孕藥已經不是什么難事。
此項針對在學校開設性健康咨詢室的調查由英國國家兒童局代表性教育論壇開展。
調查發現，單一性別學校、教會學校以及私立學校開設性健康咨詢室的可能性較小。
僅有14%的女校和10%的男校設有性健康咨詢室。僅有一部分學校將咨詢年齡限制在16歲（英國性行為最低法定年齡）以上。在高等院校中，近四分之三的學生接受過“現場”性健康咨詢，目前英國40%的16歲青少年和越來越多的14歲少年就讀于這些院校。
有些大學僅在緊急情況下提供避孕套，而有些大學則通過自動售賣機出售。
研究報告坦稱目前的確“缺乏證據”證明在學校開設性健康咨詢室的好處。現在11歲的學生都可以前往咨詢。
但報告指出，‘學校是大多數孩子和年輕人都得去的地方’。
‘并非所有年輕人在學齡階段都需要性健康咨詢服務，但在學校提供這種服務是確保一些有需要的年輕人獲得幫助的最好辦法’。
（實習生許雅寧 英語點津姍姍編輯）
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