SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
February 13th, 2008 -- Posted in General | 2 Comments »Sex education needs to be an integral part of the curriculum as it is about developing young people’s skills so that they make informed choices about their behavior, and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices.
Sex education that works starts early, before young people reach puberty, and before they have developed established patterns of behavior. The precise age at which information should be provided depends on the physical, emotional and intellectual development of the young people as well as their level of understanding.
It is important not to delay providing information to young people but to begin when they are young. Providing basic information provides the foundation on which more complex knowledge is built up over time. This also means that sex education has to be sustained. For example, when they are very young, children can be informed about how people grow and change over time, and how babies become children and then adults, and this provides the basis on which they understand more detailed information about puberty provided in the pre-teenage years. They can also when they are young, be provided with information about viruses and germs that attack the body. This provides the basis for talking to them later about infections that can be caught through sexual contact.
I fail to understand the latest upheaval in certain Indian States about sex education because as an educationist we should all understand that it is our prime duty to educate the child in all spheres of life not just Maths and Science. Sex Education has to be so well integrated in the curriculum that teaching is imparted without the child knowing that he is learning a specific subject related to sex. We all are aware of the fact that integrated studies provide more information and understanding to the child than a subject being taught in isolation. I don’t think so one needs parents consent in this as it is an important part of the curriculum, which we all tend to shy away from.
