Sex Education In India

SEX, a word which has a taboo attached to it when it comes to India. Most of us do not talk openly about the “S” word in presence of our adults. But there are certain things that the youth of our country needs to know.

With the rising number of sex-related crime coming into limelight it has become utmost important to know the reasons behind it. This is an alarming situation not only for the Health Ministry and the Police Department but for all of us. Newspapers, news channels, radio stations are mushroomed with the crimes of such discipline.

Sex Education is the need of the hour and must be injected into the schooling system as soon as possible. In India parents are both shy and unenthusiastic to consider any query or doubt in their child’s mind about sex. They are least attentive that their unconcerned approach further pushes their child to the unrestricted resource of knowledge today, such as the internet which is offering free pornography at the click of a mouse. 

Teenagers are most viable to these practices and eventually gather wrong information form internet and their peer group. These experiments often lead to unsafe sexual activities, thus rising the risk of STD’s like HIV. At times these teenagers might commit monstrous crimes like sexual abuse or become victims of the same.

According to a survey by National Family Health 12% women aged between 15-19 years in India are mothers. Reason being the lack of sex education still persists in major parts of the country. One in six Indian women aged 15-19 starts to have children. Adolescence in India needs sex education more than in any other country since child marriage make certain that you not only have sex at a young age, you also have teenage pregnancy.

How important is Sex education?
The most viable solution to keep the youth aware of one’s  sexual health is to introduce Sex Education in the school curriculum at a young age covering the various aspects related to sex, reproductive health, pregnancy, family planning etc. 

Indian education system is pretty apprehensive about Sex education in schools. A parliamentary committee, with a varied political membership, recently recommended that there should be no sex education in schools. The committee has recommended that chapters like ˜Physical and Mental Development in Adolescents and HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases be removed from the general curriculum.

The standard commencement of puberty is at 10 for girls and age 12 for boys. Taking into consideration this, experts suggest that the curriculum should be designed for standard VI and VII students as this is the age when they face hormonal changes.