Sex education should always be more about an open dialogue than just biology and diagrams of reproductive organs
Any conversation about a young woman’s sexual agency in rural India is loaded with social and cultural subtext. One of the biggest hurdles in normalising sex education in schools is the anxiety that it will lead young girls astray and put them in harm’s way. And yet, the same belief system actually endangers their future and reproductive health by pushing them into early marriages without a second thought. A 50 per cent rise was recorded in the cases of child marriages in 2020 over the previous year if you go by recent NCRB data.
There are many aspects of dealing with the conundrum of sexual education.
How can we make it less threatening? And how should we dispense it?
Recently, in Maharashtra, a huge controversy erupted over a rubber penis in a family planning kit used by health workers. The beneficiaries in question were adults, yet the kit was deemed culturally insensitive. When it comes to adolescents, especially girls, a discussion about their sexual health in rural areas would be unthinkable.
Sex education hence needs to be contextualised in a larger conversation about the long-term benefits of educating girls and protecting their health. We need to develop conversational tools to engage with and convince traditionalists who oppose sex education in villages and schools. Unfortunately, we cannot make much headway, without negotiating with patriarchal systems and ensuring community leaders that there is nothing culturally insensitive or inappropriate about sex education.
Breaking the toxic cycle
According to UNICEF, India has the largest adolescent population in the world (over 253 million), and every fifth person is between 10 to 19 years.
That a majority of these young boys and girls are unaware of their bodily functions, is not reassuring. For girls especially, it is vital that difficult conversations begin at home with parents taking the lead to discuss puberty related issues. The problem arises when families are not equipped to dispense such information because of inhibition or a genuine lack of knowledge.
It is heartening that government programmes like Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) and Ayushman Bharat – School Health Programme are trying to bridge the information gap but their implementation needs to be extensive in terms of the SRH related subject matter and also reach. This is where health workers, grassroots organisations and government outreach initiatives can synergise to empower our young so that they can make healthier choices. These choices will not just safeguard their future but also improve the social, economic and health markers of the country and break the toxic cycle of poverty, ignorance and unplanned pregnancies.
Getting past the resistance
This brings us back to the core issue as to why there is so much resistance to sex education. The widespread notion is that sex education gives adolescents sexual knowledge before they are ready for it when, in fact, it can guide the young to not fall for misinformation or make dangerous mistakes.
Sex education should always be more about an open dialogue than just biology and diagrams of reproductive organs. We must teach our adolescents about all kinds of mental, physical, as well as emotional changes that are an intrinsic part of growing up.
Restrictive societal norms are enforced by parents concerned about judgment and ridicule from the community. Ensuring that daughters avoid premarital relationships, sex and pregnancies are important to parents but discussions around puberty, sex and reproduction, between parents and children, remain taboo. If parents are not aware of something as basic as the correct marriageable age for girls, it is unlikely that they will be aware of how early pregnancy and childbirth can adversely impact the reproductive health of their daughters for life. They need to be told that their resistance to an open dialogue will lead their children to inevitably assuage their curiosity by talking to their peers and taking cues from popular media and spurious sources. And unless they make space in their home for a huge attitudinal shift, their sons and daughters will rely on untrustworthy sources and all prey to half-baked ideas. This approach may finally convince them to discard cultural taboos.
Information empowers the young
The purpose of sex education is not just to dispense facts but to create safe spaces for the young to ask questions. Lack of knowledge about menstruation, for instance, can lead to health problems and acute shame. During our outreach sessions, we have counselled boys who had so many misconceptions about masturbation that they could not focus on their studies.
In our work, we often see how timely information can empower the young. There are instances where young girls, after learning how dangerous early pregnancies can be, have not just convinced their parents to not marry them off early but also counselled other families. Sex education hence must help create an eco-system where parents at home, teachers at school and even organisations like ours can do their bit to guide young boys and girls via non-judgmental conversations.
The critical role of schools
During the pandemic, when schools could not provide sanitary napkins to young girls, we learnt what a critical role they have come to play in the lives of rural girls. Schools are perfect platforms for initiating conversations with both parents and students, and for providing answers and guidance via trusted counsellors and educators. Parent-Teacher meetings can be used to individually counsel parents to be more open with their children about sexual and reproductive health.
When it comes to culturally appropriate SRH (Sexual and Reproductive Health) resources in schools, we must have a repository of age-appropriate visual tools and standardised digital material. We can also access insights from various grassroots and civil society organisations that have developed material and digital tools for the dissemination of SRH information. Those who cannot break past conversational inhibitions can access these digitised education modules right at home in complete privacy.
A multipronged approach can help
Ujala Clinics, established under the government’s Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, provide counselling services to youngsters and ensure better coordination with other medical and health schemes are a great way forward to create a comprehensive support system for the young. However, because these clinics are located within a government health facility, adolescents shy away from seeking counselling services. While counsellors are cognizant of the need for privacy, the room available to them is often used for storage by the health centre and sees constant staff activity. This sometimes added with the presence of parents, makes it impossible for the counsellors to have ‘open’ conversations with the adolescents.
If these clinics, rebranded as Ujala Centres can be set up in or near schools, they will become more accessible and attract both in-school and out of school adolescents to seek services.
Further, if select school teachers could be trained as counsellors, it would become even easier for students to get guidance without having to go anywhere else as the most successful way to get through adolescents is through schools. Under the Ayushman Bharat – School Health Programme, teachers are being trained as Health and Wellness Ambassadors and this step could be a game-changer, but needs to be integrated into the school curriculum.
A larger conversation is needed
Generally, a curriculum on sex education could cover the changes connected to puberty, gender-specific issues, effects of early pregnancy on mental and physical health etc. But to address gender fault lines, we must also incorporate topics on consent and bodily agency in sex education. When both boys and girls learn about boundaries and volition, chances are, they will grow up with a healthy respect for each other.
When adolescents know that whatever is happening within their bodies is natural, it gives them clarity, reassurance, confidence, and agency. Their mental health improves as well, and this empowered generation can be a game-changer in uplifting their communities. Healthier and better educated young women can break the cycle of poverty and ill-health. When they can exercise their choices, earn their livelihood, go for higher education, and marry when they feel ready, they can then also shape the future of their children more positively.
While government policies and programmes like RKSK, and Ayushman Bharat – School Health Programme already exist to educate the youth on topics of SRH and give them the guidance to take correct decisions, these initiatives require on-ground support and development of resources to highlight issues such as consent, contraception, and reproductive health. Therefore, development organizations like ours are implementing pilot projects to ensure that we reach out to as many adolescents in need as possible and fill in the gaps where necessary. It is essential that they know about their right to education, information, and health, and have a safe space for help or even just a conversation when they need it the most.
The author is Vice President, Social and Economic Empowerment, IPE Global Limited. Views are personal.
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