Shanghai's female university students will be recruited as part of a three-year program to provide sex education to teenage girls.

The Baoshan Subdistrict in Zhabei District has begun the project to enlist 200 students to tutor about 3,000 teenagers in the region.

To give girls comprehensive help, the subdistrict set up a "green apple club" in July, 2005. The peer education plan is under the club, officials said yesterday.

"Girls are like green apples, which are lovely but not mature," said Xu Zhongping, director of the subdistrict's family planning department and chief of the club. "These university students are also called Sister Apple in the program."

The club is the city's first facility to focus on young girls' health development, offering financial, psychological and health advice.

"Proper education on reproductive health and methods of self protection are very important to ensure girls' healthy development," Xu said.

"Education from school and parents are not enough.

"The subdistrict can only hold lectures, so peer education is a good way to promote sex knowledge to girls who are likely to accept guidance from their Sister Apples."

All volunteers will undergo training on communication skills, health knowledge and sex-related disease prevention before offering consultation and services to teenagers.

"In fact, the program can be an education opportunity for the volunteers themselves," she said.

(Shanghai Daily August 20, 2007)