Sex Education: why we need it ASAP

India has always been land of education. From Taxila University to IITs, it has been home to some of the most prestigious institute in the world. But unfortunately we have been lagging in providing quality education to the poor. The government schools are in desperate need of help.

Along with that, the curriculum provided in all the school is really very outdated. Majority of the class room are still under equipped and please don’t get me started on the unavailability of computers. But today, I would like to talk about sex education.

Now in India, even mentioning the word “sex” aloud is a taboo. It is something which has been discussed by the last benchers of classroom, often giggling when the biology teacher draws a weird looking vagina. Back in my days, young boys get to know about birds and bees via some really shady magazine or by a “bhaiya”( an elder and “experienced” boy of the neighbourhood). Taking notes from those guys is the worst thing any curious mind can get, but hey this is how the cookie crumbles in most parts of India. Things which I’m talking about are of course pre-smartphone and pre-easy internet era. And how can I forget those times, when our peers used to exchange those shiny discs of *ahem*, never mind. My point is that sex education is not available to the young mind and that it should be introduced as soon as possible.

I was shocked to read an article today, which was about a 9 year old boy who raped a 6 year old girl. This news is hard to digest but the incident was confirmed with help of medical examination. Now to be honest, these sorts of incidents are bound to happen. Young minds are not sure of the change happening in their body and because of exposure to pornographic material so easily, they tend to commit mistake. Now the boy have to spend time at juvenile remedial centre, but it could had been easily avoided if he knew that what he was experimenting was wrong.

 Sex ed curriculum around the world starts from a young age of 6-7 . They discuss about private parts and how it is inappropriate to be touched by strangers or others. This is the best way to keep a child safe from paedophile and save him/her from being targeted by those predators. Imagine the trauma a child will go through, when he will grow up and remember those horrific incidents. It would be only then, when he will realise that he was molested and by that time it would be too late to punish those demons of society.

Sex education is also necessary to preach young minds about safe and healthy sex. Even if they try experimenting from young age, proper guidelines will keep them safe from any Sexually transmitted disease as well as unplanned pregnancy.

When a child is given proper knowledge from a young age, he would have clear idea about maintaining his sexual health. It would also help him in family planning later in his life, and this is the most urgent need of India at the moment. Things are definitely changing and we are moving forward. Sex education has been included in some school boards but only a small aspect of it has been discussed. Sex is a hush-hush topic in major part of the country but it is now finding a place in many healthy debates

Time has come when talking about”birds and bees” will actually mean talking about birds and bees! Oh and yes, I have no shame in saying my thoughts aloud. And before we Indians gasp at this word one more time, let me spell it out to you again... S-E-X, SEX!

Making India Swacch:

Now days there is a huge cry in our nation about staying swachh or clean! And why not...

Staying clean is one step closer to being healthy. I am actually very happy that the government has started this program. I’m not sure whether the government could fulfil its promise of handing over a clean India to the Indians on 2^nd October 2019, which would mark the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi ji always propagated the idea of keeping our surroundings as well as our mind & soul clean.

 Even though government may fail in its project ( I sincerely hope they don’t), a good thing which has come out of this program is that everyone is talking about it. The media is airing about this mission almost every day. Many people have conducted cleanliness drive in a hope to get 30 second of fame in the Indian media. I think people who conduct such drives should definitely get this appreciation as it would encourage them to continue doing this work as well as ignite passion in mind of other people.

Now conducting these cleanliness programs are obviously necessary, but I think along with that we have to also educate people about its benefits. India is a country where majority of people suffer from NIMBY syndrome. NIMBY stands for “Not In My Back Yard” syndrome. It means that the citizen don’t care about the disposal of garbage until and unless it is not dumped in their own backyard. They will keep their own home clean but wouldn’t care about the cleanliness of the streets or neighbourhood. Now, how to combat with this syndrome? Well, we have to wake up our inner conscience. We need to realize that the society where we live is also part of our home. So next time, when we go through the cleaning spree of Diwali or any other major festival, please make sure to clean the path outside your doorsteps along with your home!

One of my major arguments of today would be the availability (or rather unavailability)  of toilets. Unfortunately, 53% of population still used to defecate in open in 2014. This unavailability of toilets not only spread disease but also plays a major social role in rural India. Girls refuse to attend school because they don’t prefer to urinate in open during school hours. 30% percentage of Rape crime against women could have been avoided if they were not forced to defecate in open. So construction of toilet is a must in many areas.

Answer me this please. How many times where you forced to urinate in woods while travelling on road, because the next closest toilet was at least 50km far and that too was in an old and dilapidated petrol pump??!! I’m not only accusing lack of facility. We Indian men are notorious enough to pee in almost every public place. Construction of the toilet is not the only solution. Report says that even after toilets where made in their home, some people still prefer to defecate in open because it provides them an opportunity to take a morning walk, see their fields, and take in the fresh air. They obviously have no idea that it would in turn affect their health. We need to educate them about its pros and cons before mindlessly conducting these “safai abhiyaans”.

Swacch Bharat program is hands down the best initiative taken by the Modi government and we, the citizen of India should make sure we contribute to this program by keeping us and our neighbourhood clean. Because the sweepers can’t clean every paan stains from the walls or collect those plastic bags which we throw away in streets without giving a second thought.

A big salute to those hardworking sweepers, who strive hard to keep our country clean.

With warm wishes of Gandhi and Shastri jayanti , I hope we will definitely succed in our mission of Clean India.