Teaching sexuality in schools – The Hindu

Sexuality education in India is a little hazy. The National Education Policy (NEP) places sex education within the broader category of “ethical and moral reasoning.” This component aims to support “basic health and safety training, as a service to oneself and to those around us.” It offers limited references to topics such as consent, harassment, respect for women, safety, family planning, and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), with even less emphasis on digital safety. NCERT textbooks introduce the ideas of “good touch” and “bad touch” in early Environmental Studies (EVS) classes. Experts have questioned whether this terminology is sufficient or appropriate.

While the country is obliged to provide free, compulsory, and comprehensive education to adolescents and young people — as one of the signatories to the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) — a 2008 report published in the United Nations Human Rights Council site states, “In India, private schools are free to choose whether to include sexuality education in their curricula… Those schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are required to have a component of sex education in their syllabi but such schools are a minority. Most schools do not have any form of sexuality education in their curricula.”