Sexual health education- is it still a taboo?

Children while growing up need to develop knowledge about sexuality and reproductive health not only because it is important as a part of education but also because it will help children protect themselves. Sex education will not only help children to increase their self-esteem but also will have positive reinforcement and confidence in them to lead a healthier life. There are several assessments and surveys conducted among children and parents to check their attitudes towards sexual health. In this article, we are going to talk about sex education for youth and why the lack of sex education in schools hurts overall sexual health.

What is sex education all about?

• The main aim behind sex education is to educate every individual about healthy and safe sex practices so that individuals can practice them to the fullest potential.
• It also helps one to identify oneself and what one is comfortable in.

Why is sex education important?

• Without proper sex education, people are more inclined towards faith healing rather than believing in medical sciences.
• Having a strong belief in the former is not only problematic but also pushes a country backward.
• Surprisingly in India, there happens to be only one medical college that has a department of sexual medicine. This mere fact speaks for itself and says so much about sex education in India and how big of a taboo it is.
• The lack of sex education in schools is one of the main reasons why people either suffer in silence or are misdiagnosed.
• Even doctors and medical practitioners are not completely aware of sex education and often remain misinformed and believe in faith healing which has caused hundreds of patients to lose their lives.
• Sex education taught in medical school is the same as that in schools or even other colleges.

Why is there hesitation to talk about sex education?

• It has been noted that the hesitation to talk about sex education is not just in India but throughout the world.
• People hardly ever talk about contraceptive methods, dysfunction, sexual health, and even STDs. This is one of the major reasons why there is a significant amount of misinformation.
• Suffering sexual dysfunction in silence not only affects the person concerned but also harms all the social relationships that the concerned person has including marriage, domestic and social relationships.

A survey conducted on sexual health education in Pondicherry, India

• A study was conducted in the city of Pondicherry, India shows that more than 90% of parents want sexual health education in schools.
• While around 4.5% of parents believe that sex education is supposed to be given to students when they are in their colleges.
• You will be even more surprised to know that there is a percentage of people who do not want their children to have sexual health education.
• Among people who voted for sexual health education to be given in school, 58.9% of parents want their children to have sexual health education in high schools.
• 2% of parents want their children to have sexual health education in higher secondary schools.
• Last but not the least, around 8.5% of parents want their children to have sexual health education when they are in primary school.
• The survey concluded that if parents are being explained the importance of sexual health then there could be some change in the attitude of how people perceive sexual health as.

What is the future of sexual health education in India?

• Even though the changes are happening slowly, the changes are still happening which shows the progress India is undergoing.
• Sexual education is still a taboo in India, but with time and more reinforcements, there could be some significant improvements that could be expected in the coming years.
• More and more schools are coming up with sexual health education courses that are helping India achieve the goal of being educated when it comes to sexual health education.

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