Despite making giant strides in the scientific field, India still rushes behind the screen to talk about a basic nature: Sex. And curious children seek wrong or half-baked answers on Internet.
Published Sep 28, 2024 | 3:00 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 08, 2024 | 12:59 PM
Despite having a legislative advantage, the Union government seems to avoid sex education in its policies.
The Supreme Court, on 23 September, overturned a Madras High Court verdict that said downloading and viewing of child pornography did not violate the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
The apex court’s order also put to rest the confusion among high courts over viewing child porn. The court established a precedent, setting aside the high court’s verdict to deem the act a POCSO violation.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala further called for comprehensive sex education across the nation. The bench deemed sex education necessary to prevent risky sexual behaviours and address misconceptions.
However, the apex court’s instruction is not the first call for Child Sexual Education (CSE) in India. Ever since the outbreak of HIV/AIDS epidemic, repeated appeals have been made to include sex education in school syllabi but with little or no outcome.
Dr G Venkataramana, Chairperson of the Indian chapter of the Council of Sex Education and Parenthood International (CSEPI), is a staunch advocate of sex education. He was the first to detect HIV in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in 1984.
CSE imparting sex education to school children has run into opposition, he pointed out. “We aren’t teaching pre-teens. The target demography typically starts when the children enter their mid-teens and get curious about both their and others’ bodies,” Dr Venkataramana explained, adding that people realised the need for sex education after the AIDS epidemic.
Niharika, a Hyderabad-based IT professional, viewed sex education as a protective mechanism. “I want to teach my daughter about her body, good and bad touch, consent and everything else as she gets older. That’s how I want to protect her,” she said.
“In these times, it is important for children to learn about appropriate and inappropriate touch,” the young mother added.
Niharika has a point. In 2022, as many as 38,444 children, including 414 boys, fell victim to penetrative sexual assault in the country, a sharp upswing from 33,384 in 2021.
The IT professional’s concern is shared by many other parents. In August 2023, a group of schools in Hyderabad took the initiative to teach young children about good and bad touch, impart comprehensive sex education to older kids, and sensitise the teaching and non-teaching staff.
The move was a reactionary initiative to a spike in child sexual abuse cases in the city.
CSE has formulated a curriculum that teaches children about biological differences, reproduction, safe sex practices, contraception, puberty, and other related areas.
Indian states repeatedly create headlines by announcing CSE campaigns or curriculum integration. However, these announcements seldom materialise on the ground.
In 2007, Karnataka banned CSE, joining the ranks of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh. In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the ‘school health education programme’, which would cover sex education as well.
Recently in 2023, Instagram and Meta saw a shadow ban on sexual education creators. Meanwhile, in 2017, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare published a manual detailing homosexuality as normal. This manual came out a year before the Supreme Court repealed the outdated Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“There are numerous challenges to integrating CSE at schools. The most obvious one is the lack of qualified personnel but cultural clashes also play a role,” Dr Venkatarama explained. He added that often the onus of rolling out CSE is on teachers and schools. Terming this approach myopic, he said, “CSE can only be effective through collaboration between policymakers, educators, doctors, and parents.”
Earlier, education was a state subject. However, after the 42nd Amendment, education became a concurrent subject according to the seventh schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Despite having the legislative advantage, the Union government seems to avoid sex education in its policies. Interestingly, the Union’s National Education Policy (2020) omits sex education altogether. Even as the policy found an update after three decades, the approach towards CSE remained the same.
Sadly, sex is still considered a taboo in India, where it “should” be talked about in hushed tones.
“As a parent, it’s important that I can trust — and be trusted by — my daughter. I can build this trust only by being a part of her learning process. I must answer her questions about puberty and reproduction instead of dodging it,” Niharika opined.
Saran (name changed) is a 20-year-old engineering student in Hyderabad. “Forget sex education, our teachers refused to teach us the chapter on human reproduction chapter in our Biology class,” he recalled his school days. For him, CSE as a concept is impractical in India. “The teachers feel awkward talking to us, and we feel awkward discussing sex with people at least a decade or two older than us,” he said.
“I wouldn’t mind a teacher imparting sex education to my daughter. However, I’d prefer to do it personally to avoid any awkwardness. What if an awkward reaction in the class tunes her into thinking that sex is taboo?” Niharika questioned.
Dr Venkataramana felt he belonged to a luckier generation. “Though we did not have any formal sex education, our elders passed on some knowledge before we consummated our marriage,” he said.
He then pointed out the misinformed generation. “In today’s nuclear families, the elders don’t want to talk, and the children started asking the internet or each other. At least, our generation didn’t have rampant misinformation available at our fingertips,” Dr Venkataramana said.
“Indian kids are not watching Indian porn. They’re watching porn starring people from Europe, America, or Africa,” Dr Venkataramana noted. “Their sense of proportion is based on foreigners instead of people who look like them.,” he added.
He noted that such internalisation could lead to unrealistic expectations which subsequently cause body image issues and insecurities.
“If a typical Indian boy thinks of a stereotypical African male physique as ideal, he might feel inadequate about his genitalia, The same applies to Indian girls as well,” he explained.
Saran echoed the same sentiment. “You see all those well-built guys having sex with women at the drop of a hat. It leads to a sense of insecurity among the viewers whose realities aren’t the same,” he stated.
“In most schools, opposite genders are discouraged from mingling. When you have no interaction with the opposite gender, it leads to an increase in porn consumption, which subsequently holds them back from interacting freely with the opposite sex,” Saran observed.
The Allo Sex-Ed Survey 2023 reflected these anecdotal observations in reality. The study found that 58 percent of the 8,625 participants across India discovered sex through porn. Furthermore, 60 percent learnt about sex and pleasure from their friends or peers.
Additionally, 66 percent of the sample reported that porn shaped their expectations of real-life sex, with 48 percent resorting to YouTube as their primary source of sex education.
Interestingly, 51 percent of the participants opined that parents and family should be responsible for sex education.
“Porn and misinformation are two primary proponents of risky sexual behaviours,” Dr Venkatarama opined. He added that improper sex education could lead to detrimental physical, psychological and societal effects.
“When someone is unaware of safe sex, contraception, and STDs, they are more likely to engage in unsafe sexual practices. This often results in contacting STDs/STIs or teenage pregnancies,” he reported.
Speaking of societal implications, he explained: “Misconceptions of sex, unrealistic expectations, poor understanding of sexuality among other things can often directly or indirectly lead to divorce.”
The psychological effects, in his opinion, are the most prevalent. “It could lead to dysfunctions, low self-esteem, inferiority complexes and so many other issues,” he said.
“On the flip side, proper sex education can be beneficial. Couples learn that pleasure is not taboo, and they can safely experiment and explore their sexualities. Others would also realise that self-pleasure isn’t wrong,” he noted.
However, he acknowledged that improper sex education could also lead to violent effects. “When a person becomes incapable of seeing the opposite gender as something other than a sex object, they may resort to violating their agency,” he cautioned.
In Telangana, sex education is already a part of the high school curriculum.
However, the Report of the Committee on Issues Relating to the Safety and Security of Women and Girls in Telangana indicated several challenges. As per the report, reluctance on the part of students and teachers was the primary challenge in introducing sex education in schools.
“The teachers are either skipping the class or asking the students to read the chapters by themselves,” the report read. Additionally, there is a chapter on good touch and bad touch, which is introduced under personal safety in Telangana schools.
Andhra Pradesh does not have a sex education policy. In Tamil Nadu too, despite numerous pitches, there has been little headway. Sex education in the state is imparted by NGOs like Bloom Trust and Asha Nivas.
Karnataka has a sex education policy and students are being educated for a year.
“There are specific guidelines outlining what should be taught, to whom it should be taught, and who is responsible for educating the children. These guidelines are being followed in all state-run schools,” Karnataka’s Department of Public Instructions (DPI) Additional Commissioner (Kalaburagi) Dr Aksha S told South First.
“A few districts are making extra efforts in educating children about good touch and bad touch through child protection officers, who have been entrusted with enacting certain guidelines of the sex education policy,” he explained.
“The DPI has launched Mission Suraksha across schools in Kalaburagi. Under this programme, child protection officers, officials from the Department of Women and Child Welfare, and the DPI are engaged in teaching and training students on these topics,” he stated.
“It is conducted regularly in schools, but there are no fixed weekly sessions. However, there are guidelines in place, and the officers are expected and mandated to conduct these sessions. The scale and intensity of implementation vary across different areas, taking into account local traditions and cultures,” the official added.
In Kerala, sexual awareness is already a part of the school syllabus, with topics introduced as early as seventh grade. When the Kerala High Court recently called on the government to integrate safe sex education into the curriculum, the state responded by pointing out its inclusion in existing textbooks.
However, beyond the classroom, students also benefit from specialised sessions under programmes categorised as “additional skill learning” or “soft skill learning.”
One such programme, Project X, led by the district administration in collaboration with an NGO, is gaining recognition for its innovative delivery of sex education. It is a joint initiative of the Thiruvananthapuram District Administration, the General Education Department, and Kanal Innovations, an NGO.
There is some information regarding sex education in the ninth standard textbook as well. While teachers of seventh standard were provided with the training, it is yet to begin for ninth standard teachers.
“I think parents should be counselled regarding sex education,” Dr Venkataramana opined. “They will serve as the most secure resources if they are transparent, honest, and non-judgmental,” he continued.
Niharika seconded this opinion, adding, “If my daughter can talk to me about sex, she won’t feel the urge to explore it in an unsafe manner.”
“Effective sex education is only possible when parents, society, and policymakers work together to teach our children where they came from,” she said.
“If my daughter asks me how she was born, I won’t tell her she’s a gift from god,” Niharika affirmed.
The Supreme Court’s call for better sex education is a step in the right direction. However, the recent National Medical Commission’s undergraduate curriculum guideline listing homosexuality, fetishes, and other such sexual expressions as perversions or offences, does not inspire confidence. It later junked the curriculum.
Saran has a younger brother in 10th grade. “I know he won’t get sex education. “I would’ve talked to him about this myself. However, with virtually no formal sex education, I don’t know how I’d approach him. I hope they can set up a counsellor who imparts sex education more privately. Then, at least he would know, even if in hushed tones,” he expressed hope.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
