What's standing in the way of sex education initiatives?

What are flavoured condoms Whatrsquos 69 What does the middle finger mean What does fk mean Whatrsquos porn Whorsquos adult movie actor Mia Khalifa How do gay men have sex What is oral sex What is anal sex Why do women moanThese are questions from students as young as Class 2 and 4 going up to Class 11 Anju Kish a certified sex educator and Founder of UnTaboo a Safety and Sexuality Education Company based out of Juhu is talking about her experience in schoolsldquoThey overhear these words see things on television and when adults get shocked at such questions the children get curious and turn to the Internetrdquo And thus Pandorarsquos Box is opened ldquoThis can be resolved by creating a safe space at home for open discussions and regularly engaging with these topics and not just as a trigger reaction to heinous events around usrdquo adds Kish who began her work in safety in sex as an independent sex educator 13 years ago In 2016 she officially consolidated her company and now works extensively with city schoolsMadhavi Jadhav is the cofounder of web app Atmancare that works exclusively with governments via District Magistrates to include concepts such as consent in rural India including Nanded PicM FahimldquoThe talkrdquo is not common yet in all Indian households if it happens at all But the rape and murder of a resident doctor at Kolkatarsquos RG Kar Medical College has sparked conversations in living rooms A few days after the rape the terror lurked closer with the news of sexual assault of two fouryearolds at a school in Badlapur The panic among parents became palpable How to talk about sex What tools can we use Who can help navigate the nuances of consent and give us a vocabulary suited to childrenItrsquos a problem noted by the highest judicial authority in the country The Supreme Court On September 23 the apex court while including downloading storing circulating and watching child pornography under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act POCSO drew correlation between sex education and sexual violence The Court referred to a study of over 900 adolescents in Maharashtra which found that those not exposed to scientific literature on reproductive and sexual health were more likely to engage in early sexual activity Comprehensive sex education the Court said teaches youth about consent and the legal ramifications of sexual activitiesAlso ReadMidDay Explains What does SCrsquos recent ruling on child pornography mean for childrenrsquos safety in IndiaIt has been over 200 years since the country was a very open societyrdquo says Kish ldquoThe British brought with them conservative ways to look at sex and the education about itrdquo The workings of the birds and bees have been shrouded in mystery sinceUttkarsh Sinha and Resham PuriIn its report to the United Nations Human Rights Council the All India Educational and Vocational Guidance Institute found that 42 to 52 per cent of young students in India feel that they do not have adequate knowledge about sex The report was aptly titled lsquoOn the Lack of Comprehensive Sexuality Education in IndiaThese numbers are not shocking as throughout our interaction for this piece many sex educators talked about the aversion of parents or adults to the termldquosex educationrdquo This has forced it to be rebranded as Comprehensive Sexuality Education CSE in India and Relationships and Sexuality Education RSE in the WestOn the opposite end of the spectrum is the booming business of sexual wellness with its sex toys male and female condoms contraceptives creams lubricants lifestyle products and collectives and workshops It stood at Rs 130 crore in India the previous year and is predicted to reach R200 crore by 2032 as per a report by IMARCmdash a market research company that provides market and business research intelligenceKish and others are marrying education and technology to fill this gap between sex education and sex positivity The country with its complexities of digital access sociocultural diktats and urbanity requires a hybrid offlineonline CSE to temper the hormonal teenager into a selfregulated adultKish recently took an element of CSE online with the game Puberty Adventure ldquoParent and child go on a quest together to the Puberty Mountain crossing various levels and challenges to summit the peakrdquo explains Kish ldquoThese are gamified experiences of puberty for example lake menstruation erection peak hairy forest To level up they have to watch a threeminute animated video about a particular pubertyrelated concepts say body odour and answer related questions correctly and even challenge their parents to a quizrdquoIn the Hairy Forest a hirsute animation talks about being embarrassed by the growth in new places elaborates on the healthrelated aspects of it before moving the gamer on to the learning section Here aspects such as dealing with body odour and hair growth are discussed Parent and child race against each other over 10 such levels to become Puberty GraduatesAbhijit Raut District Collector amp Distric Nanded right Priyal Agrawal Founder StandWeSpeakcomBut such education innovations are few and far in between indicating they are not lucrative enough For example when we reached out to Iesha Learning which also uses an onlineoffline hybrid education process we received a message a few days later saying ldquoHi Iesha hasnrsquot been operational since 2017 sorryrdquoPriyal Agrawal started Goabased StandWeSpeakcom a SexEdtech initiative in 2021 after her 19yearold friend couldnrsquot find a safe and verified list online for clinics or hospitals for a safe termination of pregnancyldquoSex education is difficult to monetiserdquo says Agrawal a certified sex educator ldquoTo ensure young and marginalised communities have easy access to sexual and reproductive health information and services we have begun partnering with educational institutions and organisations As most young people and teenagers have limited capacity to pay for expert consultations and services going B2B as a business model helps us ensure our users reap the benefits along with building financial sustainabilityrdquo But educational videos etc are very tough to pull off as a business Agrawal spoke to us from the US where she is currently researching the online sex education business and scouting for investors ldquoIn the UK for example sexuality education is mandatory in private and public schools from age 11 so as a player you have a lot of workrdquo she addsFor now StandWeSpeakcom has chatbot answers for such basic questions as ldquoWhat is sexrdquo but nuanced conversation is not possible ldquoRight now we are also trying to generate revenue through menstrual productsrdquo Agrawal adds ldquoif successful we can make our platform more extensive in terms ofsexuality educationrdquoAnother problem for those like Agrawal is manoeuvring around the ambiguous legal framework surrounding providing sex education to those below 13 years of age The website therefore has erred on the safe sideUtkarsh Sinha who cofounded Ioza Learning in 2022 tasted profitability only early this year The genesis of the platform goes back to when Sinha saw his sixyearold niece splash water at passersby from their home in Kolkata He asked her whether she had the strangerrsquos consent to play Holi with them She drew a blank at the word Sinharsquos LinkedIn profile flashes a oneline mission statement Dedicated to empowering children across IndialdquoWe have two verticals Ioza Learning hosts online classes on sex and menstrual education and Ioza holds physical workshops in schoolsrdquo he informs Their target audience is ages eight to 24 and certified sex educators conduct online live sessions from Ahmedabad Pune and Kolkata for 30 minutes to one hour ldquoRecentlyrdquo says Kolkatabased Sinha ldquoduring a session a nineyearold girl asked the educator lsquoWhat is rape and why is it happeningrsquordquoWhile Mumbairsquos parents are scouring CSE classes and sessions in response to the Badlapur case Sinha tells us in Kolkata children themselves are enrolling for online sessions since the RG Kar tragedyldquoMany of these children are using their parentsrsquo phone numbers to enrolrdquo says Sinha ldquoWhen we call back we realise that most parents have no idea They then admonish and blame us for what is happening in the city A few even go to the extent of saying our platforms teach their children lsquohow to have sexhelliprsquordquoFor Sinha the biggest impediment to sex education is parents no matter the mediummdashoffline or online ldquoParents need to get over the hesitation over discussing sex These misconceptions are the reason why we are seeing what we are todayrdquo he says with finalityMadhavi Jadhav co founder Atmancare works exclusively with local governments in districts across the country District managers and collectors who are often the final authority in villages such as Nanded provide Atman a foot in the door ldquoWe may have to tweak or drop some modules if the collectors deem them too sensitiverdquoThe webbased app was launched in 2020 the idea came to the Sataranative when her 15yearold niece asked her whether she should have a boyfriend since all her friends had oneldquoI kept thinking about the kind of relationship these teenagers have with their boyfriends and whether they are even aware of what being in a relationship meansrdquo says Jadhav who was on her way to a government school in Pune to convince them to work with her she was headed to Chandigarh the next day ldquoWe want to remain a webbased app because not everyone in villages has a smart phone but schools may have a few computers that teachers can use to teach studentsrdquo she addsThe app plays 30second reels and comic strips about puberty and sex catering to children aged 10 to 19 It also elaborates what comes under POCSO ldquoThe content is highly agesensitive as it is shown in schools and institutions exclusivelyrdquo she says ldquoWe start with early puberty talk about consent boundaries and to an older audience about pregnancies Even 18yearold teenagers in these districts have little understanding of consent They do not understand the difference between love lust relationships and how you donrsquot need to marry the first person you have a physical relationship withrdquoThrough these sessions Jadhav found that boys may read up and know more about periods than girls and have a curiosity about wet dreams ldquoWe target boys because many of them are ignored by sex educators or not coached about consent intercourse and boundariesrdquo she says ldquoDespite restrictions in this space I am very happy to be able to do this kind of work in areas where no one makes the effort to go and teach these basic conceptsrdquoAnd has Jadhav broken even on her investment ldquoWe are barely surviving on a shoestring budgetrdquo she chuckles ldquobut thatrsquos the hope Let us seerdquoAbhijit Raut District Collector and District Magistrate of Nanded is one of the few who reached out to Jadhav after the ripples of Badlapur reached them ldquoMany students come and live here to study for competitive exams much like Kotardquo he says referring to the abundance of coaching classes in the town ldquoFifteenyearolds experience their first crush or romantic relationship here When their feelings are not reciprocated they get depressedrdquo He estimates that about 10000 students board in the top eight institutes in Nanded ldquoThatrsquos a big chunk of young girls and boys who might need guidancerdquo he adds These teens are already burdened by the pressure of cracking government competitive exams ldquoSo I requested Madhavi to include a module on how to handle relationshipsrdquo says the IIT Roorkee alumnus ldquoThrough the app they can also let us know if someone is harassing them or even complain about infrastructure malfunctions that affects their safety such as a badlylit roadrdquoJadhav finds teachers hesitant to be part of CSE workshops ldquoI donrsquot blame educatorsrdquo she says ldquothey do not live in the world we live in at Mumbai or Pune Many of these towns are small and teachers fear backlash from the community and parentsrdquoBack in Mumbai Powairsquos Nahar International held its first sex education workshop in 2023 after Resham Puri Head of Student Wellbeing felt it to be the need of the hour ldquoThis year though students were quite comfortable in addressing the topic than last year and displayed a healthy curiosity and positive attitude during the sessionrdquoMost importantly Puri is heartened that educators such as her are being trained and equipped to handle these conversations most importantly with parentsAachal Jain who works as Pastoral care coordinator at Aditya Birla World Academy feels fathers need to be more involved in imparting sex education ldquoWe try to impress upon parents that the conversations need to happen in the presence of both parentsrdquo she says ldquoStudents are not segregated for our workshops anymore as was the practice earlier This is so that the boys know about menstruation mood swings and hygiene as much as the girls do We also destigmatise masturbation and wet dreams for girlsrdquoThe challenge explains Jain is to pick the right educator as students pick up on uncomfortable body language and nonverbal cues quickly ldquoIf students sense that the workshop is conducted by the school personnel they find it difficult to ask questions Shame and fear of being judged comes in playrdquo she says The school discussed this with a team of five counsellors and came to the conclusion that inhouse educators may not be the right people to conduct the workshop since their students rely on them for on a daily basis and may also feel that their curiosities and questions would not be safe with them as the educators spoke to their parentsSo they enlisted Anju Kish ldquoFor examplerdquo says Jain ldquoA student asked how engaging in oral sex can lead to STI A teacher may dismiss the question but only specialist will be able to say that even a small cut sore or open wound will lead to transmitting infectionrdquoThough both Puri and Jain have seen very little pushback from parents about CSE Kish says not much has changed from when she started ldquoThe kids are super openrdquo she says ldquoIt is the parents who have mind blocks Even before we get to the students we have to address the concerns of the gatekeepersrdquoHer solution has been parenttalks she calls ldquoBreaking the wall of silencerdquo ldquoThere are many openminded parents but they are a mere drop in the oceanrdquo says Kish ldquoThings are changing but at a slow pace and there is a lot more work to be donehelliprdquo425237Students from class 2 donrsquot know enough about sex All India Educational and Vocational Guidance Institute900no of students in Maharashtra who were not exposed to scientific literature on reproductive and sexual health were more likely to have initiated sex early2007Saw a proposal on banning sex education in Maharashtra Indian Paediatric JournalWhat Supreme Court saidThe Bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala read ldquoIt is of paramount importance that we begin to address misconceptions around sexual health promoting a comprehensive understanding of sex educationrsquos benefits is essential for improving sexual health outcomes and reducing the incidence of sexual crimes in IndialdquoAnother common belief is that sex education is a Western concept that does not align with traditional Indian values This view has led to resistance from various state governments resulting in bans on sex education in schools in some statesrdquo