What, according to our politicians will create “an immoral society”? And “destroy Indian culture?” Corruption? Communal riots? Religious intolerance? Bollywood movies? Actually, it is none of the above. The answer is, sex education in schools.
 It unites Murali Manohar Joshi with Laloo Prasad Yadav at the other end of the political spectrum. For Joshi, imparting sex education would ruin the system. Laloo – who might have had fewer than 11 children if he had been fortunate enough to have had sex education in his school - thinks “our entire culture will collapse.”
 I also like the comment made by the Delhi BJP President Harsh Vardhan: “Foreign powers are trying to harm Indian culture indirectly through this curriculum and want to ruin the young generation.” Wow! He also thinks that “Children will start engaging in sexual activities, ignoring their educational responsibilities.” Does this mean that teaching economics ought to be stopped in case students become stock market manipulators or that geography should be banned in case everybody flees to Dubai?
 The RSS, the self-appointed guardian of our morality has been active too, sending out letters warning teachers of arrest under sections 354 of the IPC (outraging the modesty of a woman) and 355 (dishonouring a person) if they teach “sex education”. Many state governments oppose it as anti-social. 
 Perhaps it is not our children who need education so much as the adults. This is confirmed by the tool-kit provided for teachers and developed by the Human Resource Development ministry and the National Aids Control Organisation (Naco). This is one of its suggestions: Blindfold the child and let him runs his hands over all students and identify boys and girls by touching their body parts.
 Yes. That is how we propose to impart sex education. Suddenly the Joshis and the Laloos don’t appear so foolish after all.
 A Naco official has been quoted as saying that the material had to be tailored for local needs. “We have supplied the tool-kits and it is for the states and teachers to adapt it according to their social, cultural and religious needs.”
I suspect that this sex education course - and its defence - has been written by Groucho Marx, with some help from his brothers. I dread to think what its instructions are for the later chapters. Groping as an educational aid would have been hilarious if it weren’t so pathetic.
 The problem is not with the concept of sex education - which is important, and not just because our NGOs feel that the everybody ought to know about HIV/AIDS. The problem lies in the manner of handling it. Sometimes it is difficult to say which side of the debate sounds sillier, bigoted and limiting. Sex education is not about having sex in schools, as the moral brigade would have us believe; nor is its sole purpose learning about AIDS. Our textbooks will probably put the children off sex for life, if textbooks in other subjects are any indication.
 Sex education has to find the balance between titillation and ambiguity. The first is counterproductive, the second guarantees trauma for life. That is why the teachers have to be specially trained for the job.
 The curriculum has to be sensitive, clinical and aimed at educating. If teachers are embarrassed by the human body, how can they teach their students not to be? You only have to read the agony columns of our newspapers - with such questions as “will I become pregnant if I kiss a man?”– to realize how little even some grown ups really know.
 Girls and boys are taught by reprimand, by being told what not to do; both also learn from the media and movies. But this syllabus is incomplete, and often half-baked. We need to impart the knowledge while ignoring the baggage that comes with it.
 Three decades ago, the sex education in my school was part of the syllabus - only we didn’t call it that. It was taught deadpan without any embarrassment. It came as a pleasant surprise to many that there were scientific names for body parts and bodily functions which were known by shorter and crisper words not always found in the dictionary.
 Our best defence against the misuse of our bodies is  the knowledge of its potential and the consequences of our actions. It is the lack of knowledge that leads to trouble and confusion. Our culture is not so delicate as to collapse at the mention of a condom. We don’t need just sex education, we need proper sex education.The distinction is crucial.