There have been nationwide debates and controversies about the introduction of sex education in school curriculum. Opposers of the debate claims that it is against our culture, it is anti-social and this programme is introduced under the influence of UNICEF and few MNCs.
These claims may be valid to some extent or may not be at all. However, there is an urgent need of sex education in the context of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and rise of unwanted pregnancies which are all largely due to unsafe sexual practices.
For in as many as 85% cases, HIV spreads through sex and the cases are 13 times higher among homosexuals. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), there were 36,700 teenage abortions in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai in 2005-06.
The figure shows that many girls today walk into abortion centres as if they walk into a beauty parlour. In case of Manipur also, although there is no sanction for pre-marital sex in Manipur society, increase in such cases among the youngsters has become a cause of concern with many young girls becoming HIV positive.
It is through sexual route that more and more women are becoming HIV positive in Manipur and many of the girls who have not yet passed class XII have unwittingly become HIV positive. This reflects society’s changing face.
Sex is one topic we all shy away from talking about. We are concerned that providing information about sex and sexuality to young children may arouses curiosity and encourage early sexual activity.
Parents and many other organisations fear that sex education under the guise of AIDS awareness and prevention would certainly promote free and safe sex and would have adverse impact on individuals and society.
However, through sex education, we can create awareness about the hazards of the unsafe sexual practices. In a more elaborate explanation, sex education is a process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and belief about sex, sexual identity, relationship and intimacy.
It helps younger to develop skills to protect themselves against sexual abuse, exploitation, unintended pregnancies, promiscuity, STDs and HIV/AIDS (Mangla, 2004).
Less encouraging picture of India
Today, the problem of HIV/AIDS in India has attained the epidemic status in some highly affected states such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Manipur etc.
The recent report of National AIDS Control Society (NACO) shows an alarming increase of AIDS cases in India and the overall picture of HIV infection is less encouraging. More alarming is the spread of HIV among the general population, particularly among women, who do not engage in high-risk behaviours and whose chances of contracting the virus are considered low.
There are signs of stabilization in the high prevalence states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh etc., indicating that efforts in place to bring awareness and prevent further spread of the epidemic are bearing fruit.
The rate of infection, however, is increasing in other states. HIV infection is rapidly spreading beyond urban areas and an increasing number of people infected belong to the younger and working age groups.
In Manipur also, even though HIV/AIDS prevalence has seen a decline among the IDUs in the state, new hotspots, particularly among the MSMs have emerged raising concern among the healthcare authorities. Thus, the larger national picture is far from encouraging.
Sex education need of the hour
Many parents are not comfortable discussing about sex and prefer to hope that their children are getting knowledge about it from other sources such as television, newspapers, movies, peer groups, schools etc.
Today, children are bombarded daily by the media with sexual topics and images. Beginning with the early morning newspapers, we find in many of the national newspapers with sexual topics and photographs.
Many children turn on the television, read the newspapers, or surf the internet to find sexual themed media. Our kids have easy access to it, and however, these media often do not provide accurate information and guidance.
Most young people adopt high risk behaviour due to the numerous myths and lack of skills to deal with peer pressure. They often do not know how serious the problem of HIV/AIDS is, how it is caused or what they can do to protect themselves.
In view of this, there is an urgent need of sex education to educate the young generation about the dangers of this deadly virus and how preventive measures can be put in place.
To sum up, sex education should be introduced as a subject or at least as a chapter of a related subject. This vaccine of education is more important than the medicine vaccine amongst the young people to develop well-informed views about sex and sexuality and raise awareness levels of HIV/AIDS, resist peer pressure and develop a safe and responsible life style.
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* Nameirakpam Samungou Singh contributes regularly to e-pao.net.
He is a Ph.D Research Scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
The writer can be contacted at samungou(at)rediffmail(dot)com .
This article was webcasted on 10th December 2007.
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