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Life for Uni is a little different than most kids her age; at 16 years old she already frequently visits a gynecologist.

“A pap smear is not unusual for me,” said Uni (not her real name), a student at a private high school in Jakarta.

She said she had been having sex with her boyfriend, who also attends the school, for the past year and now undergoes regular check-ups to make sure she isn’t pregnant.

“My parents don’t have any idea what’s going on, that I bring my boyfriend up to my room every Saturday night. They always go to bed early,” Uni said.

Her case underscores fears increasingly confronting Indonesian parents nowadays that their underage children are sexually active.

A limited survey conducted by the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) showed that 30 percent of 100 teenagers surveyed aged 14 to 18 have already had sex.

Factors that may contribute to the trend are the lack of sex education at schools and the reluctance of parents to talk to their children about an issue that is traditionally considered taboo. Even when there is discussion, parents and educators are often faced with kids who tend to resist their advice.

KPAI chairman Hadi Supeno said adolescence was a particularly difficult stage that required equal parts encouragement and firmness from parents.

“It’s easier to teach children at a younger age, but teenagers are often clueless about nonacademic aspects of their lives,” he said.

As an example, Hadi cited lessons on good manners and conduct that were being taught to students in elementary school but were not reinforced in later grade levels. The lack of a consistent method of building character could leave teenagers vulnerable to prohibited activities, Hadi said.

Uni may be one of the smarter teenagers in her case, because she is aware of the health risks that go with an active sex life and is not ashamed to see a doctor regularly.

According to Uni, she was curious about sex and decided to try it with her boyfriend three months into their relationship.

“I’m not stupid, though,” Uni said. “I browsed the Web for information on sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy and how to prevent them.”

The KPAI survey showed that curiosity among teens was triggered by unfettered access to pornography on the Internet and pirated DVDs.

Prita, not her real name, watched pornographic movies on her cellphone before she had sex with her boyfriend.

“I wanted to know how it would feel,” said the 18-year-old university freshman from Bandung, who first had sex when she was 16.

Based on conversations within their peer groups, it is unlikely that Uni’s and Prita’s cases are exceptions. They say that nonchalantly swapping stories with their friends of their experiences is natural and they do not feel embarrassed or guilty.

Prita, who lives separately from her parents in Jakarta, said her only concern was veneral disease. “I’m scared to see a doctor. I’m scared that my parents will find out what I’ve been doing when the doctor sees something wrong with me,” she said.

Usep Solehudin, from the independent youth clinic Yayasan Pelita Ilmu, said sex education needed to be integrated into the school curriculum, but that such a program was farfetched in a traditionally conservative society.

“Teachers still need to figure out how best to broach the subject to their students,” he said. “However, the taboo label discourages them from bringing up the topic.”

Prita said she had no choice but to learn about sex education elsewhere. “We can get information on STDs and pregnancy on the Internet,” she said, “otherwise it’s hard to get such information, because sex is still seen as an embarrassing topic.”

As access to information grows by leaps and bounds online, parents and educators are beginning to realize that worry and anger are not the best reactions when confronted with the subject of teen sex.

“It’s now time to deal with the issue,” Hadi said.