sex education

Sex education has long been source of anxiety for parents, especially those with strong religious beliefs.   Many parents want to ensure the curriculum  doesn’t undermine their moral and religious views.  For decades, national Religious Right political groups have fanned the flames of this debate by urging opposition to comprehensive sexuality education. Thwarted in that approach, these groups have developed a new strategy: developing and marketing curricula that promote sectarian beliefs, censor information on contraception and disease prevention, and limit options to one:  abstaining from all sexual activity until marriage .  And such conflicts between sex education and religion continues as it is one of those never ending ones ... . I guess we all know about the  four goals of Hinduism - Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha .  We Indians even have a  god for sex - Kama . So it is only natural that we have erotic sculptures on our temples. There have ...

  The currently prevailing sexual abuse of the children led  UNICEF  to conduct a collaborated study that can help in devising a plan to improve the lives of children and adolescents in India and around the world. Sexual abuse of children and adults, is prevalent at  homes, schools, offices and streets alike.  Adolescents are easy targets and are subjected to abuse in a variety of forms ranging from  rape, fondling, kissing, sodomy, and exposure to pornographic materials. The study threw up some interesting insights over the years, some of which are mentioned as follows:    India has over  2.3 million people over 15 years , affected with  HIV/AIDS  infection    42 percent of  girls under the age of 19  face sexual violence in India    Almost 1.5 million girls are married in India  even before they turn 18    About 45% of men and 28% of women have strong knowledge about HIV/AIDS and its prevention  ...

  Isn't it ironic ? the same janta that shimmies to the tunes of sheela ki jawani, rolls their eyes when asked about one of the biggest fruits of said jawani, sexuality? Indians, sometimes even the  well read urban kind  , often tend to attach a whole lot of sensitivity to the topic of sex, regarding it with the most  vicious taboo.  It is thus a natural consequence that education that teaches their children about sexual well-being is met with the  highest resistance possible – from parents, teachers, lawmakers and nosy neighbours, especially nosy neighbours. Let’s talk about sex? No thanks. Not until a magical switch is flipped on the day you say I do. But jokes apart, this is serious business. India needs a comprehensive sex education plan, and it needs to move beyond the birds and the bees .That sex is a taboo topic in India is no breaking news. It is evident by how we handle the subject from a young age or the time we first find out about it.  But ...

In 2009 a Rajya Sabha committee headed by  Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu  (BJP, union minister at present) recommended that there should be no sex education in schools. This committee comprised of Rajya Sabha members from BJP, Congress, CPI (M), RJD, LJP and AIADMK. The committee held that the sex education  “promotes promiscuity”  and has  “the potential to  pollute the young and  impressionable minds of students by exposing them to indecent material”  and causes  “incalculable damage to our school children who are the future citizens of this country” . The committee also stated that “our country’s social  and culture ethos are such that sex education has absolutely no place in it. Basic human instincts  like food, fear, greed, coitus etc . need not be taught, rather control of these instincts should be the subject of education. But present academic system incites stimulation of instincts, which is detrimental to the society. To focus Indi...

  The first step to effective instruction is choosing the right teachers. An ideal configuration is to have male and female co-teachers modelling comfortable   rapport on all topics, but that’s not always possible. More important is that  teachers are mature, comfortable talking about sex, and supportive of the goals of the course.  Teachers should also have good classroom management skills; avoid overreacting when students giggle in early lessons; teach students to use correct vocabulary and wean them from profanity; have a sense of humour but  not allow inappropriate humour and quickly shut down teasing and ridicule; prepare thoroughly for each class but nimbly respond to unexpected questions ; be confident and authoritative, while admitting gaps in knowledge; be authentic but not share personal sexual experiences; encourage student participation but not let students overshare, and avoid using unapproved materials and guest speakers.  Answering question i...