Dr. Bijoy Rakshit
The recent horrific and gruesome incident of rape and murder of a junior postgraduate doctor in Kolkata has shaken us all to the core. People across the country are expressing their concern with mounting anger and demanding immediate justice for the victim and the family. We can witness the widespread national and global outrage over the blood-boiling incident and the involvement of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Supreme Court (SC) of India in questioning the state machinery. While the horrific incident garnered a great deal of public attention, bringing people onto the street and sparking protests across the country, an important question remains: what must be done to prevent such heinous acts in the future? What could be a permanent solution to end this epidemic of sexual violence?
Numerous discussions are currently taking place, and multiple approaches can be proposed to answer the above question. However, in my opinion, perhaps a long-lasting approach that can be proven instrumental in preventing sexual violence, which has become rampant in the country, is the implementation of sex education into mainstream education, and the institutional and societal acceptance of such education. Let me extend a possible explanation to support the claim.
Statistically speaking, the present number of rape in India presents a bleak reality. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), between 2017 and 2022, a total of 189,000 rape cases were reported, involving 191,000 victims. Notably, in 179,000 of these cases, the perpetrator was known to the victim, while in 9,670 cases, the crime was committed by a stranger. On average, India reported 86 rape cases per day during this period, equating to four rape cases every hour. These statistics are undeniably disturbing and can daunt us gravely.
It can be persuasively argued that historically, the majority of young Indian men and women grew up in a male-dominated patriarchal society with negligible access to sex education. Specifically, the interaction between males and females significantly diminishes after puberty in rural areas. Such an environment gives rise to misdirected masculinity, characterized by a sense of male sexual dominance and profoundly ingrained gender inequality in attitudes and behavior. The alarming disparity in gender roles becomes even more dominant during the phase of adolescence. Men tend to witness and experience greater privileges reserved for them- such as greater freedom, increased mobility, plenty of opportunities, and most importantly, power. On the contrary, females encounter growing restrictions, limited mobility, and compromised power. Sometimes, girls are even dropped out of school and college due to these factors. These limitations and restrictions imposed on girls’ merit scholarly attention and comprehensive sexuality education in India, including modules that focus on awareness of sexual violence and exploitation.
India has a vibrant and incredibly rich history of liberated sexual perspectives, as popularly documented in its ancient literature and sculptures in temples. In present times, however, the concept of sex education continues to be a contentious topic in the major part of the country. The attempt to include this topic in mainstream education and widespread social acceptance is astonishingly nascent. Strangely, the concept of sexuality has conveniently been relegated to a means of reproduction rather than an integral part of human nature. When implementing sex education in primary school curricula and monitoring progress promptly, UNESCO has undertaken several robust steps for countries worldwide. World-renowned psychologist Manoj K. Pandey and psychiatrist T.S. Sathyanarayana Rao, in their research, identified that India falls short of several developing nations, such as the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda, in terms of sex education curriculum development and decentralization of implementation. While sex education is often taught in secondary school in India, it has been sensitized to children as early as elementary school in many other nations. It is surprising to learn that several states, including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka, have opposed and advocated for the outlawing of sex education in schools. They claim that such programs can encourage dangerous behavior in students and jeopardize the safety of the learning environment. Moreover, some educators, religious institutions, and social activists questioned the implementation of sex education as it may lead to premature sexual activity in children. However, an article published by Kumari (2022) on “Sex education and sexuality in India” shows that Indian youth demonstrate a more practical approach. Significantly, 88% of youth think that sex education ought to start in elementary school. Furthermore, according to 66% of them, teachers in elementary and secondary schools are not adequately prepared to teach sex education. In addition, ninety percent of young people support giving parents and educators factual training so they may better prepare them for talks about this topic. In India, several initiatives have been launched by government and non-governmental organizations to promote sex education. On a positive note, UNESCO has generously acknowledged a successful sex education story and its positive impact on students under the overarching program “Udaan” from the state of Jharkhand. Under this initiative, a school-based adolescent education program was introduced that could effectively educate over a million students on health topics, including sex education, by 2019. It was also stressed that extending this model to the rest of the states in India could serve the purpose of sex education and potentially benefit many students. In conclusion, I suggest that in light of the limited awareness of sex education and the growing incidence of sexual violence in the country, there has been a pressing need for India to implement effective and comprehensive. sex education at primary and secondary levels. Policymakers and government stakeholders ought to consider the importance of such education in designing and framing modules and curricula for students that can prevent sexual violence and exploitation, which has remained an important topic to discuss. I firmly believe that the introduction and implementation of a well-structured curriculum on sex education may greatly empower the youth to understand the evolving roles of women in society and offer a secure environment for discussing misguided notions of masculinity and awareness of violence against women. In addition to this, educating young people about the risks of sexual exploitation and ensuring the safety of women in workplaces is crucial. Such a well-encompassing understanding of sex education will aid them in acknowledgingsexual violence and prevent them from committing violence. Implementing such education can also deepen students’ understanding of their bodies, age-related changes, and essential concepts such as consent and personal space. A comprehensive discourse on a wide array of topics, including menstruation, sexual intercourse, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy risks, should be encouraged. Finally, the involvement of parents, teachers, and civil society is paramount to achieving the targets.
(The writer is faculty from IIM Jammu)
