Sex Education – this term has been in the lime light of late across the nation for all the wrong reasons. The governments of several states have banned sex-ed, as according to them it is against Indian culture. I have witnessed several debates on TV, read articles in news papers and views expressed by various stake holders. The debates, discussions and articles carried views in which people vehemently approved of sex-ed and others opposing it tooth and nail.

What is most appalling in all this commotion is that most of them seem to have very little knowledge about the subject, in fact the common man’s perception of sex-ed is that these classes are meant to teach children how to do it. The governments seem to use this topic to gain political mileage by appearing as guardians of culture. The biggest loosers in this battle are the students who is being denied an opportunity to grow up into complete individuals knowing their own body and mind better. 

The problem lies not in the topic but the manner in which it has been implemented. In most states the curriculum that was to be implemented was developed by the UNICEF, which was developed keeping in mind several varied cultures and regions of the world. What was suggested by the UNICEF was that the content had to be adapted for Indian students keeping in mind the ground realities of India. Issues like gays and lesbianism that was dealt with in detail in the original UNICEF curriculum might be very disturbing to many in our country, but in countries like Thailand and Philippines these are real issues for students as almost 6-8% of students in schools are from the mixed gender. The efforts made by the CBSE board to bring in sex-ed as part of their Life Skills initiative is laudable, but in their curriculum too the topic could have been dealt with more care and depth.

Sex-ed is not just about sex, it is about health, hygiene, emotions, social impact, peer pressure, media influence, abuse and many other factors. All of them need to be brought into perspective so that young adults appreciate the learning and can relate to it.

If principals need to address this issue, which I believe they should irrespective of weather the boards or government believe they should two areas become critical - content & delivery. The content for a successful sex-ed program should be holistic, touching upon various aspects of psycho-social development of children. Research from across the world that is available, which can be suited to Indian conditions by qualified and sensitive psychologists or experts in psycho-social development of children. Developing text books on sex-ed will not be sufficient to address such a critical issue. The delivery of a good sex-ed program can be most effective if interactive learning methodologies like debates, discussions, games, role plays, etc are employed in the session.

The need of the hour I believe is to develop good quality, well researched, interesting audio-visual content on sex-ed that can reach out to children either through the computer labs or through the audio visual rooms.