Role of Sex Education in the context of Sexual Assaults on children in School

The recent incidents of sexual harassment on school children leads us to reflect deeply on the role of sex education in schools. The issue unfolds a series of questions like Can sex education help all the concerned stakeholders in tackling or mitigating the instances of sexual harassment on children? What should be the appropriate age for introducing sex education? What are the appropriate pedagogical approaches to teach the sex education? How are the victims of sexual harassment viewed or treated by the family, friends and community? Or What does sex education has to say about the community perceptions on victims of sexual assault?

As of now there is nothing called sex education in schools on account of the taboo associated with the word 'Sex'. The Ministry of Human Resource Development had launched Adolescence Education Programme in 2005 which is now coordinated by the NCERT. The implementing agencies are Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, State SCERTs and National Institute of Open Schooling. The programme covers a range of issues which broadly come under the themes like healthy transition to adulthood, having positive and responsible relationships, challenging stereotypes and discrimination related to gender and sexuality, understanding and reporting abuse and violations and preventing HIV/AIDS and substance abuse. This programme is implemented upwards from grade 8 in schools affiliated to CBSE covering students in the age group of 13 to 18.

The national level evaluation study on the impact of the programme suggests that overall the programme had a positive impact while there was little or no improvement in the knowledge levels or attitudes of students with regard to certain themes like domestic violence, gender constructs and sexual abuse. This calls for the nationwide rigorous implementation of the programme in the context of increased instances of sexual harassment both in and out of schools in the country. The effective implementation of the programme right from the elementary stage also holds some promise in tackling the menace of sexual harassment in the long term.

Written as part of my Internship at The HINDU