A state which sets the trend in fashion, passion, crime and corruption, and whose film industry churns out the most liberating of dreams for the country’s young, is suddenly concerned about violating impressionable minds. The Maharashtra government has decided to put on hold sex education as part of the school curriculum in the firm belief that it ‘spoils’ the younger generation. What shaped its opinion on the matter was the vociferous campaign by the state legislators, who, cutting across the political spectrum, voiced their concern about the corruptibility of the books introduced under the Adolescent Education Programme of the Central Board of Secondary Education. The quibbling politicians are so alarmed at the possible consequences of the booklets — whose readers were supposed to be teachers and instructors, and not students — that they have not only taken these out of circulation but also ensured that the subject is not introduced in the senior classes in schools following the state syllabus.

Maharashtra is not the only state to have arrived at such a judgment. The states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party — Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat — as also Uttar Pradesh, ruled by the Samajwadi Party, have vetoed sex education in schools. As the common political will in Maharashtra makes evident, the problem is not with puritanical sadhvis and fastidious saffronites alone. The blocking out of sex education from schools bears testimony to adult India’s intrinsic discomfort with the subject of sex as also its exercise of the right of mind-control over children, which is seen as the innate right of elders. Children, supposedly, will remain children so long as the subject of sex does not arise. Globalized India is still wont to disbelieve that about one-fourth of its young population have premarital sex, and most of it unprotected. It would rather have its children know about the birds and the bees through pornographic material on the internet, blue films or their ill-informed peers than from teachers and parents. With only 58 per cent boys and 31 per cent girls of 15 years and above attending school (where sex is as much a taboo as at home), it is only natural that a large percentage of the age-group should emulate the sexual behaviour they watch on screen. Why should then the nation be so shocked to discover the rise of sex crimes among the young?

Apart from preventing the flow of correct information about sex and hindering the development of the right attitude towards sexual activity, the foolhardy conservativeness of the self-appointed moral guardians of the society is endangering sexual health. Maharashtra, for instance, reported the first case of HIV/AIDs in the country and has one of the highest prevalence of HIV infections in India. For Maharashtra, it is absolutely crucial to promote knowledge of safe and responsible sexual behaviour among the young from an early age and continue with the process well into their adolescence. And yet, some irresponsible adults seem hellbent on promoting ignorance of a most dangerous kind.