Sex Education is still forbidden in many schools in India, though NGOs are trying hard to push it in order to educate children on the subject One big question that raises a hue and cry in the city these days is ‘Do we need sex education at the school level?’  While some say yes, others firmly answer in negative.

But in reality sex education in schools has both good and bad effects on students. The fact that formal sex education among teenagers effectively reduces sexual risk behaviours has more scientific validation now. Most of the people who talk about this subject do not want to be named. While majority of the boys say it is okay, most of the girls do not like to attend the sex education classes. Some boys even blow up condoms like balloons and make fun of girls on the school premises.“It is important that sex education is provided before the teen’s sexual initiation,” says a research scholar. Sex education is found to be particularly important for those groups that are traditionally at high risk of early sex and of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, say researchers.

    
A study was conducted recently on teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 years. Those who received sex education had less sexual activity. Interestingly, while 59 per cent of teen girls were less likely to start sex before age of 15 if they had received sex education, the percentage was impressively as high as 71 per cent among male teens, said the study. Teenage boys who receive sex education are three times more likely to use birth control measures the first time they have sexual intercourse. However, no such association is found among females, according to the study.

The research also showed that boys living in single-parent households were more likely to delay sex past the age of 15 if they had attended a sex education class. The study, conducted by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), indicated that teenage sex was fast emerging as a trend in metros. “Teenagers are usually in an experimental mood when it comes to sex. What is disturbing is the fact that a large number of young men in the age-group of 15-24 engage in casual sex with sex workers,” said an official from NACO.
        

The ministry of Human Resource Development and NACO had jointly initiated the Adolescent Education Programme in schools. However, the programme faced rough weather over its contents, forcing the government to revise the material and teaching methodology.Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) conducting sex education classes in the city schools have faced tough time as principals of the schools are taking objection to graphic description of the genitalia in the class as part of the sex education.
   

A school principal complained that sex education classes had a very negative impact as boys started jeering at girls after the male and female reproductive organs were graphically described.”When I went through the material on sex education I felt that we, in the biology classes, could deal with the subject better without being too explicit, unlike what the NGOs do by showing graphic pictures,” said the principal of a school in city. However, the AP State Aids Control Society (Apsacs) and NGOs, which are conducting classes on sex education, say sex education will not have a negative impact as long as it addresses the right age group of students and in a right manner.

“It is best to deal with the subject directly as the children of that age appreciate the frankness in talking about sex,” a science teacher said. He said sex should be spoken as an activity that was an integral part of life and one that should be treated with respect. Observations indicate that sex education is still limited to a small number of schools and as a result, young adults remain in the dark about HIV. Unprotected pre-marital sex is also cited as a reason for HIV cases. The study, which has focused on youngsters from Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Bhimavaram, Kakinada and Warangal, has found that more number of teens look at sex as an integral part of life, but fail to use protective measures.

Source : www.deccanpost.in