Sex Education in India should be meaningful and intelligible

Though the idea of introducing sex education in India has been accepted in principle, still India has a long way to go, since some reservation prevail among states in implementing the sex education programme in the present format for fear of public outcry.

After all the purpose of introducing sex education in India is to spread awareness among the people particularly among the adolescents who become hapless victims to Venereal diseases and thereby suffer from HIV/AIDS, to prevent innocent people from becoming victims of HIV/AIDS, to have sex in a more safer and secure way and preventing or rather minimizing teen pregnancy etc.

When the sex education programme was sought to be introduced in India, the last module was rejected by six states, objecting to the vocabulary of the programme since it might corrupt young minds rather than educate them.

Therefore the Central Government in association with National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) took steps to device a new module that would omit words like ‘intercourse’ and ‘masturbation’ and would focus on being more interactive and user friendly without using illustrations and drawings.

But we should not forget that this is an age of internet and television and it is our duty to give more authentic information to youngsters, rather than let them to learn for themselves the nuances of the issue.

Sujatha Rao, the Director General of NACO defended the decision and said that before formulating the module both conservative and progressive people were consulted.

Public opinion was kept in mind while drafting the module and the ultimate objective of the sex education module is about educating the children on sex and not teaching them ‘Kamasutra’.

Some social activists are critical of the module which omits the words like ‘intercourse’ and ‘masturbation’ and are sceptical that the module cannot serve the purpose and explain to a child the act of sexual union. She also says that sex education is a separate subject and it should not be clubbed with other social issues like HIV and adolescent pregnancy and the need of the hour is not to give more information about sex and biology will take care of it. We should see that the children should realize the responsibilities when a man and woman come together.

According to some doctors like Dr.Narayana Reddy that the entire sex education module is self-defeating if terms like ‘intercourse’ and ‘masturbation’ are omitted. Citing an example, in the USA sex abstinence programmes have failed and the administrators are planning to withdraw it.

Abstinence from sex is not the solution but making the children more aware and responsible.

The stigma of taboo on sex should be removed before introducing sex education and omission of vital words like ‘intercourse’ and ‘masturbation’ will actually hamper the emancipation of sex education and refraining from those words will do more harm than good.

Moreover they are the most exact terms to explain the concepts correctly and accurately and in our anxiousness to omit them in the name of public outcry will only precipitate the matter further.