According to the NDA, using the word ‘sex’ or any of its derivatives may “offend” people and thus needs to be avoided while framing policy documents regarding  education. Reports by The Telegraph say that the Ministry of Human Resources, coerced a panel of experts into changing their recommendations in an official document on adolescent education to just one sentence and removing the word ‘sex’ and its related words.

Sources told The Telegraph that the original document contained strong arguments for improved and thorough sex education lessons for adolescents. The strongly worded recommendations included the line, “ The health of adolescents, particularly the reproductive and sexual health needs”, given that this being “a cultural sensitive area, they are deprived of appropriate information.”

And post-modification, the entire argument has been condensed into one sentence, “The Adolescent Education Programme and National Population Education Programme need to be extended to all schools as early as possible.” We wonder though, how will you explain sexual health to an adolescent without the word sexual in it. The highlight here, is that the document, titled “ Inputs for Draft National Education Policy 2016” has a direct effect on the formulation of education-related policies in the country.

If officials are afraid of offending people, then it is easy to understand the level of their paranoia and how it is trickling down and detrimentally affecting the creation and implementation of policies. If the people at the top do not understand the need for sex education and awareness, then there is little chance that the right decisions will be made. Very often, children will believe what is taught in school and if their education includes learning ‘sex’ as a taboo then there will always be a lack of clarity in that subject. More than a cultural issue, it is an issue of pure and simple safety--if a young adult does not learn safe sex practices, they may end up engaging in sex that results  in pregnancy or the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases.

Moreover, it is not just a matter of discussing sex. In a country where 1 out of 2 children are molested in some form, it is imperative that we teach children to differentiate between good and bad touch, teach them that when someone makes them uncomfortable it is not their fault and that they should inform an adult.

Sex Education needs to be implemented in schools across the country especially since  children and adolescents today have more access to  new channels of media which they may use to fulfil their curiosity  but may not have the right information that they require. The government needs to stop acting like a prudish aunty and make sane, mature decisions, especially with regard to sex education, because if a population of 1.25 billion people isn’t a good enough reason, we don’t know what is.

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