While sex education is so conveniently eliminated by our current education system to avoid right wing extremism and social backlash due to stigmas and stereotypes, it is the students that pay the price of it. This grave predicament demands interest remedy. Read on to find out the origins of the shame attached to it, previous attempts to inculcate sex education that have failed and why, struggles faced by teenagers that are denied the knowledge they are entitled to and solutions that can finally solve this issue.
In a modernist human society where education claims to be that beacon of knowledge that obliterates preposterous stigmas and taboos and fosters cognizant and well-rounded individuals that are almost devoid of stereotype and prejudice; it stands to be the greatest and the most dichotomously puzzling predicament that humankind’s current system of ‘education’ so wantonly obscures the very genesis of life and the most pleasurable activity of human beings in this world.
In the past, sex education has been considered a taboo topic by those withholding power, ignorantly making scientifically false and inane claims like ‘Sex education leads to more sex in teenagers, thus increasing the risks of STDs and unwanted pregnancies.’ Contrastingly, however, research shows that sex education evidently does not lead to a rise in sexual activity; for instance the findings of the Youth Risk Behavioural Surveillance Survey (YRBSS), show that a substantial chunk (almost 40%) of high schoolers already engage in intercourse, and sex education, or rather the lack thereof, possess no influence over this figure.
Another ludicrous claim often made by right-wing extremists to justify the absence of sex education in schools is that it leads to adolescents making a ‘precocious sexual debut’. Once again, this conveniently oblivious assertion has been disproved by the numerous reiterations of researchers and biologists alike.
In the most unfortunate absence of the provision of that knowledge that is and must be considered indispensable for our youth, students today find themselves in a myriad of dilemmas.
Firstly, they often lack the comprehensive skills to fully acknowledge and appreciate the plethora of changes in their bodies, thus finding them ‘strange’ and ‘bizarre’. Furthermore, conditioned by society to not discuss these changes with anyone, they find themselves alone in a battle they do not possess the armour to fight. Moreover, the current and unfortunate state of affairs holds a far more adverse effect on young menstruators who stand to be even more befuddled about the changes in their bodies and remain oblivious to menstrual hygiene practices. This often leads to mental health problems and self-harm and in the most extreme cases, students resort to suicide.
It is rather noteworthy that a study conducted by The John Hopkins University in the United States shows that LGBTQIA+ suicides are reduced by 14% in grades 9-12, in states where same-sex marriage has been legalised and a more accommodating ecosystem can be cultivated.
Secondly, students also lack the understanding of safe-sex practices, hence exposing themselves to deadly sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV-AIDS. Moreover, numerous studies have shown that unwanted teenage pregnancies have only been on the rise in the past few decades, owing to the absence of knowledge that can help teens either avoid intercourse or engage in safe intercourse. The YRBSS study also shows that efficient sex education leads to an increased contraceptive use.
Thirdly, when students are denied basic education about their bodies, which all humans are entitled to; out of sheer desperation, they end up resorting to illegal sites, specifically pornography to learn more, which often leads them helplessly astray and down a self-destructing path.
Provided such harsh and grave struggles that teenagers find themselves in, the concerned authorities must be galvanised to take immediate action. Nevertheless, in order to truly remedy these most unfortunate circumstances of our education system that we find ourselves in, one must possess a thorough comprehension of their origins and why attempts to inculcate sex education into school curriculum have never garnered the degree of success that they ought to.
Historically, India boasts a rich heritage of liberated sexual perspective as found in evidence in the works of literature and the sculptures of hindu temples. The ancient Hindu text Kamasutra, a piece of literature that dwells exhaustively on topics including but not limited to sexual enlightenment, fulfilment and procreation stands as a testament to ancient Indian society’s acknowledgment of the vitality of sex education. However, modern India finds itself to have progressed backwards in this context.
While few initiatives have been taken to encourage sex education, most of them have failed. For instance, in Jharkhand, a programme called Udaan was launched to equip students with sexual health related knowledge. However the size and scale of this programme proved too minuscule to hold any tangible impact or to claim any ability to amend the educational curriculum at large. Furthermore, state boards like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have eliminated sex education from schools in its entirety, citing absurd right wing ideologies.
Another noteworthy attempt was made by The Government of India under The Ministry of Human Resource Development and Health and Family welfare to address sexual education in young adults in 2020. The officials were cautious not to use the terms ‘sex’ or ‘sexual’ in the programme to avoid public backlash. In spite of their precautionary measures, large segments of society boycotted the programme due to preexisting taboos.
Furthermore, in 2020, NCERT had released a teacher training manual for the sensitisation and enrichment of teachers educating transgender children, which had to be retracted, owing to societal backlash.
Evidently, our nation lacks a uniform policy for planning, articulation, culmination and execution of sexual education. Solutions pertinent to the issue (bearing in mind the 17 SDGs) include:
Firstly, while educational curriculums are decentralised and each state board possesses the power to censor and edit textbooks as they see fit in accordance with the local beliefs and culture on the region, a well-rounded sexual education curriculum must be formed at the central level and all states must be legally obligated to adopt it. This must be done to ensure that state bans do not act as barriers to the students of those regions from access to sexual education.
Secondly, the curriculum design must be founded upon the inputs of a special committee that would comprise researchers of human sexual anatomy, biologists, teen psychologists, doctors and experienced and voracious educators.
Thirdly, schools must hire professional and trained faculty that specialise particularly in providing sexual education. The benefit of this would be two fold as it would not just promote sexual education but also increase employment.
Fourthly, the parents of the students must be gently sensitised to the imperativeness of sexual education and the vast shortcomings of the lack thereof. This can be done through parent-teacher programmes, government schemes and other illuminative resources. However, this matter must be handled delicately and extra care must be taken to not hurt the sentiments of parents that have been conditioned sociologically and psychologically for decades to think a certain way and possess stigmas that are deeply ingrained in their mindsets.
Fifthly, it must be ensured that the curriculum does not dwell solely on heterosexual norms and practices but also brings forth the social evils of homophobia, transphobia and other phenomena that oppress the LGBTQIA+ population and the need to do away with them. It should also talk of domestic violence, sexual abuse and violence.
Furthermore, it should also discuss the critical and intertwined relationship between sexual health and mental health. It must help students regulate their emotions as they explore the changes taking place in their bodies and equip them with skills to improve decision making.
Lastly, it must provide students with the ability to take efficient legal action in times of crisis.
This article was written as a part of the Re-imagining media fellowship by Via News Didi