PSYCHOLOGISTS, counsellors and other experts on Friday welcomed tighter checks on sexuality education programmes in schools by the Education Ministry, but said more attention should be paid to two weak links in the system: Parents and teachers.

In interviews with The Straits Times, several experts said these two groups of people are not fully equipped to pass on the right information and values to children.

Most parents, they said, are simply not comfortable discussing the birds and the bees with their children. What is worse is that many simply abdicate responsibility, and tell their children to get answers from teachers instead.

They added that teachers need more training to overcome the awkwardness many feel when it comes to discussing sex in the classroom.

Said Madam Evelyn Khong, a manager and family life educator at Fei Yue Community Services, one group which stages sexuality education classes for students: 'Parents are uncomfortable talking about sex because they were taught by their parents not to talk about it. They don't understand sex fully, and think it's only about making babies.

'But sex is much more than that - it's an emotional, physical and psychological thing,' she said.

The president of the Singapore Planned Parenthood Association, Mr Edward Ong, agreed, calling it a 'generational problem'.

Several parents interviewed admitted as much.

Housewife Madam Priscilla Ting, 44, who has two daughters aged 11 and 13, said: 'They are so young, they may not understand what sex is and may even get the wrong idea.'

This, say the experts, leads to the very situation Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said on Thursday should be avoided: Curious children turning to sources like the Internet and their friends for answers and, sometimes, ending up with wrong solutions.

Read the full report in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.