More than half of parents do not think sex education should be taught to children at school, according to a new survey.

Many think it is inappropriate to teach children about sex, whilst others think it should be a parents' choice to inform their own child, according to a poll by baby product website babychild.org.uk.

The survey, which questioned more than 1,700 parents of children aged five to 11, found that 59 per cent do not agree with the fact that sex education is often taught to children in schools, even from a young age.

Almost half (48 per cent) of those questioned said children should be at least 13 years old before it is appropriate to teach them about sex, the survey found.

Of those that don't agree that sex education should be taught in schools, 41 per cent said it was inappropriate to teach youngsters about the subject, while one in four (28 per cent) said it should be the parents' choice to teach their own child.

A similar proportion (27 per cent) said there was no need for children to know about sex.

Contraception was the most popular topic that parents said should be covered in sex education lessons (chosen by 65 per cent), followed by puberty (49 per cent), homosexuality (48 per cent) and sexually transmitted infections (47 per cent).

At the moment, both primary and secondary schools have to teach pupils age-appropriate lessons about the biology of sex in science.

The survey questioned 1,732 parents between April 26 and May 4.

(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)