sex eduction in india

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6928326.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6949714.stm

Recently, the Indian ministry of education had finally decided to include sex education as part of its curriculum for secondary schools. Sex had always been a taboo topic in India and this latest development came as good news for many people who had been lobbying for years to introduce sex education in India.
However, it came as a surprise when there was also a lot of objection to this move in many of the major states in India, considering the fact that India has the highest number of people who are affected with AIDS. According to UNAids, India has some 5.7 million people infected with the HIV virus, more than any other country in the world. More than 30% of the states in India were against this move as well as various other non governmental organizations. The governments of the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat and some other states decided to ban sex education. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, The Secondary School Teachers' Association even threatened to make a bonfire of books if sex education wasn’t withdrawn immediately.
I feel that some of the reasons given for not wanting sex education to be a part of the curriculum are quite vague and unreasonable. One minister said that sex education would make the children more “permissive” while one mother said that it would make the children more curious. A senior minister in the leading opposition party also claims that all this has come as a result of India adopting a more westernized outlook.

I feel that there are two ways of looking at this issue. One way is to remember the fact that India has the highest number of people who are infected with aids. With this in mind, it is obviously of paramount importance that sex education be introduced as it is probably the only way to keep the menace of aids under control. It must be kept in mind that if the youth are educated now, it might lead to a better future.
Another way to look at it is that India has always been a conservative country, where sex is a taboo topic, and family values and morals are given high regard and importance. In such a country, it is quite understandable that the conservationists would not want to change the way the Indian society has been functioning. This also explains why the minister blamed the introduction of sex education, on an adoption of a westernized approach. He feels that this move is proof that India is trying to become a more “open country”.

This battle on whether the introduction of sex education is a good move or not will continue to be a hot topic in the Indian politics and may well be the decisive factor in the next general elecions.