Every year 23 million Indian females drop out of school early due to menstruation taboos or a lack of education. Did you know that 71% of adolescent females in India have no idea about menstruation? And that worldwide, only 34% of young people can demonstrate correct knowledge of HIV prevention and transmission?
This is due to a lack of sex education. It has been a taboo subject in many Indian schools for a long time. This has also caused sexual violence in India to remain a shockingly prevalent issue: rape is India’s fourth most common crime, with one occurring every fifteen minutes.
With the rapid growth of information these days, sex information is everywhere. Young children are curious and need to be educated at an early age so they are not misled by irresponsible media. However, a lot of Indian parents believe that talking to their kids about sex will encourage them to actually have sex, and end up skipping ‘the talk’ (I didn’t get one, either. I had to resort to self-education, but I’m privileged and have good resource materials).
An absence of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) will leave more young people vulnerable to harmful sexual behavior and exploitation. That’s why schools must take up detailed age and developmentally-appropriate CSE, regardless of whether children’s parents have or haven’t already.
Sex education isn’t just about sex! It teaches you about physical development, gender and sexual identity, relationships, societal issues, and reproductive health and behavior. It also encompasses social and emotional learning, and violence prevention education. Young people need access to accurate information, and should be given the opportunity to discuss and question these topics. We live in a world where gender-based violence and inequality, accidental pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases present great risks to health and overall well-being. Comprehensive sex education is one of the best ways to prevent those risks.
Also, teenagers being more likely to get pregnant because of sex education is a myth. In fact, Reuters reports that adolescents who received formal CSE are 60% less likely to have been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant than those who hadn’t. Globally, teen birth rates have decreased by 11.6% in the past two decades. This is associated with better and more comprehensive sex education, where regions with the most improved education had the highest decreases (over 50% in the United States).
Schools should aim to engage, empower, and inform teens rather than focus on risk. Teachers can address teenagers’ current concerns best by engaging with our perspectives and views of what is relevant. By doing this, we will understand better what influences society’s views on gender and sexuality. We can develop skills to help us interact in positive, respectful, and supportive ways with each other, which is why it is vital that our school adds comprehensive sexual education to its curriculum.