It came as a shock to many when Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on his website drharshvardhan.com boldly advocated banning sex education in schools.
The remark is not new, except this time, a person who himself is a doctor and health minister too is voicing reservations against sex education. The Minister has expectedly drawn flak from intellectuals, parents and other socially active groups for his remarks.
But, at the same time, his statement has also directed attention towards the basic question: Is sex education still a part of school curriculum? Way back in 2007 National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) tried to implement an adolescent education programme in the school curriculum which could not be put into force as there was controversy over it.
Even before that, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 2005 issued a circular to all the heads of CBSE-affiliated institutions on Adolescence Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH) Project.
The main objective of the national plan was to facilitate adolescents to understand the perspective of physical, biological and emotional changes and to initiate a sense of self awareness among adolescents to understand others, to manage their emotions effectively.
ARSH was meant to help them acquire information and education on sex and reproductive health, help them to avoid vulnerability to risky behaviour, enable them to resist sex exploitation and gender-based violence, understand the consequences of substance abuse and adopt preventive measures and to help them understand the seriousness of the epidemic HIV/AIDS.
When Metrolife contacted CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi he was unavailable for comment. However, a CBSE source, requesting anonymity, said, “There was no separate subject related to sex education as topics were being covered through activity-based programmes. The above objectives were to be introduced through its integration in the school curriculum, co-curricular activities and awareness building programme.”
A senior official of Directorate of Education, also on condition of anonymity, said that sex education was started as an awareness programme in schools but it didn’t take off as planned. “There was a lot of hue and cry from different quarters of the society so the department faced difficulties in implementing it with full vigour.”
“Over the years, there has been decline in the sex education programme in the school,” said the official.
On the other hand, Sunila Athley, Principal, Amity International School, Vasundhara said, “ We have been doing counselling and conducting life skill training classes every week for senior secondary students. Since sex education is not a separate subject, such classes are included in value education subject.”
When asked about the ARSH project, Sunila expressed ignorance about it saying, “It must be followed in Delhi-based schools. We are in Uttar Pradesh region.” However, Amita Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Pusa Road said, “Unfortunately only those things can be banned which are implemented. It is an irony that sex education was and has never been a part of school curriculum.”
According to her, other than ARSH, there was another programme Adolescent Education Programme (AEP) which included awareness on issues like HIV/AIDS awareness, child abuse and molestation. “ Surprisingly AEP did not function properly,” said Wattal.