Sex education in India

Sex education is instruction on issues relating to:

1. human sexuality, 
2. human sexual anatomy,
3. sexual reproduction, 
4. sexual intercourse, 
5. reproductive health, 
6. emotional relations, 
7. reproductive rights and responsibilities, 
8. abstinence, 
9. birth control, and 
10. other aspects of human sexual behavior. 

Common avenues for sex education are parents or caregivers, formal school programs, and public health campaigns.

Experience has shown that adolescents are curious about some or all the aspects of their sexuality as well as the nature of sexuality in general, and that many will wish to experience their sexuality.

Traditionally, adolescents were not given any information on sexual matters, with discussion of these issues being considered taboo. Such instruction as was given was traditionally left to a child's parents, and often this was put off until just before a child's marriage. Most of the information on sexual matters were obtained informally from friends and the media, and much of this information was of doubtful value. Much of such information was usually known to be deficient, especially during the period following puberty when curiosity of sexual matters was the most acute. This deficiency became increasingly evident by the increasing incidence of teenage pregnancies, especially in Western countries after the 1960s. As part of each country's efforts to reduce such pregnancies, programs of sex education were instituted, initially over strong opposition from parent and religious groups.

When sex education is contentiously debated, the chief controversial points are whether covering child sexuality is valuable or detrimental; the use of birth control such as condoms and hormonal contraception; and the impact of such use on pregnancy outside marriage, teenage pregnancy, and the transmission of STIs. Increasing support for abstinence-only sex education by conservative groups has been one of the primary causes of this controversy. Countries with conservative attitudes towards sex education (including the UK and the U.S.) have a higher incidence of STIs and teenage pregnancy.^[9]

The existence of AIDS has given a new sense of urgency to the topic of sex education. In many African nations, where AIDS is at epidemic levels (seeHIV/AIDS in Africa), sex education is seen by most scientists as a vital public health strategy. 1

Sex Education in India

According to the National Family Health Survey conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and Macro International in 2005-06, 12% women aged between 15-19 years are mothers. 

"Youth in India needs sex education more than in any other country since child marriage ensures that you not only have sex at a young age, you also have teenage pregnancy." 

Human resource development ministry's (HRD) Adult Education Programme (AEP). Launched in 2005 and backed by the National Aids Control Organization (NACO), the AEP's focus is safer sex, as well as the physical and mental development of 14-18-year-olds. But the Committee said that it was "highly embarrassed" by the HRD ministry's curriculum and insisted that pre-marital sex, together with sex outside marriage, is "immoral, unethical and unhealthy". It also said that consensual sex before the age of 16 "amounts to rape". 

But Mehra is one of many who point to the facts. Child marriage means huge numbers of adolescent Indians indulge in "legal" sexual activity. The IIPS says that 47.4% of all women aged 20 to 24 are married by the time they are 18. About 18% are married by the time they are 15. Mehra says politicians have long promoted regressive policy on the pretext of culture. 

Sex education can also help with India's fight against Aids. Government statistics indicate that 40% of new sexually transmitted infections are in the 15-29 age group. More than 31% of all reported Aids cases occur in this age group, which indicates that young Indians are a high-risk demographic. 

Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research says sex education achieves many goals, like spreading awareness about sexual abuse. A nationwide study by the Department of Women and Child Development says that 53.2% children have faced one or more forms of sexual abuse and at least half the perpetrators were known to the child. "We have to educate youth so they can protect themselves,". 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_education.