Patna, Jan. 23: At a time when the country is debating issues like homosexuality and live-in relationships, Bihar is still fighting shy on whether to include sex education in the school syllabus or not.

The state government feels that sex education should not be included in the syllabus of Class X as it is against the “Indian culture” and might mislead the students. On the other hand, several academics and students strongly back the suggestion.

The State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) director Hasan Waris feels including sex education in the school syllabus would lead to a ruckus.

He said: “Neither are teachers fully trained to teach the subject nor has the country developed to a level at which schools start teaching about sex. Unless the country is developed and teachers are properly trained, sex education should not be included in the school syllabus.”

Some feel that it’s like forcibly turning children mature much before they actually should be, whereas many argue that children must be aware of this and it should be implemented to prevent them from repeating the mistakes the elders committed.

Sudarshan Central School principal Neeta Singh said: “Children should be mentally mature enough to face future without any difficulty. Maturity should be on the mental level and not on physical level. Separate classes might be taken for girls and boys. Many women don’t know how and when to conceive due to lack of sex education. If they gain awareness, they would not have conceive early. We don’t want today’s children to face problems like this tomorrow.”

On the contrary, Chitranshu Tewari, a Class XII student of Don Bosco Academy, said: “If you check out biology books of Class X in ICSE, you will find that we already have a few chapters in biology to deal with these topics. As these are taught from Class IX, we have ample knowledge about sex to help us in future. Students do not need sex education as an independent subject. Teaching about sex before Class IX would be too early.”

Kashif Jamal, a Class XII student of Patna Muslim High School, said: “The chapters in biology of Class X in CBSE do not deal with sex education in a sufficient manner. On the other hand, if this is started right from Class VI on the basic level, then by the time they study in Class X, children will attain adequate knowledge about sex to help in future.”

Jamal added: “Teachers should treat sex education as any other subject and teach it in a similar fashion. They should not feel that it is something very different and get irritated while dealing with various topics. They should not forget it would help the students in future to a large extent. Parents should also be friendly enough to discuss sex with their children.”

Dinesh Kumar, an associate professor in the department of psychology, College of Commerce, said: “Sex education should be included in the school syllabus provided that the objective is rational or proper. The education should be knowledge-oriented and should strictly be checked that it is not misused.”

He added: “This should not be implemented in classes prior to Class IX and must be taught to children above 13 years of age. The period is that of adolescence which is full of storm and has crave of independence and freedom. It is difficult to control the adolescents, who, if left unchecked, would disobey whatever they are told to do.”

The big debate

• State government feels sex education is against “Indian culture”
  
  SCERT director Hasan Waris feels teachers are not fully trained
  
  Sudarshan Central School principal Neeta Singh says education can curtail teen pregnancy
  
• Psychology professor Dinesh Kumar wants sex education for teenagers