Sign on Critique of Abstinence Driven, NACO Adolescence Education Materials

[Guest guest]

PLEASE ENDORSE STATEMENT ON SEXUALITY EDUCATION

Dear friends,

We are attaching the final version of the press statement on Sexuality Education

for young people which critiques the abstinence driven, sanitized reworked NACO

Adolescence Education material. If you would like to endorse the statement

please do write to Nirantar by noon tomorrow, that is 6th, Wednesday.

 

As we had written in the earlier mail, following the ban on sex education in 12

states across the country, NACO has reworked its  Adolescence Education 

Programme.

The proposed curriculum is now on its website:

http://www.nacoonline.org/NACO_Action/NACO_Events/_Consultation_on_AEP_with_Dire\

ctors_of_State_Departments_of_Education_and_SACS_-_Scheduled_for_Tuesday_29th_Ju\

ly_2008_at_India_Habitat_Center_New_Delhi/

 

The material is highly problematic on many counts.  It is entirely driven by a

narrowly defined HIV and AIDs agenda. It promotes abstinence and monogamy as

solutions for the disease.  It is silent even on  biological  details of 

reproduction and information related to safer sex.

It assumes that all young people are able bodied, that they desire the opposite

sex and conform to the gender assigned to them.

In order to assert the need for sexuality education that genuinely empowers and

informs young people, Nirantar is organizing a press conference in Delhi on the

7th of this month, at which this joint press statement will be issues.

 

PRESS STATEMENT

 

Youth groups, educationists, groups working on child sexual abuse, sexual rights

groups, disability rights groups and women's groups demand an approach to

Sexuality Education that genuinely seeks to inform and empower young people. We

reject the re-worked Adolescence Education Programme that had been prepared by

NACO in the strongest terms.

The approach adopted by the proposed curriculum constitutes a betrayal of the

rights of young people of this country.

 

The thrust of the NACO curriculum is abstinence.  It is silent even about

biological aspects of reproduction.  The lesson on conception, while addressing

internal biological mechanisms, omits any description of intercourse. Sexual

intercourse is shrouded in the euphemism of intimate physical relationships.

Without the knowledge of what does cause conception, the curriculum would fail

in one of its own objectives of addressing teenage pregnancy.

 

The material strengthens the sense of shame and fear that surrounds sex and

sexuality. Not talking about sex intensifies the taboo around the subject rather

than alleviating it.

The curriculum fails to enable young people to choose between saying ˜yes and

no.

Those who work in the area of child sexual abuse know that a sense of comfort

and confidence related to sexuality are critical in enabling the child to

recognize abuse and to break the silence surrounding it.

 

Even the agenda of HIV/AIDs prevention will not be served by an approach that

promotes abstinence. A moralistic approach will not succeed in bringing about

behaviour change. Experts in the HIV/AIDs sector have always maintained that the

only answer to the epidemic is   information.

It is ironic that a curriculum, informed primarily by the HIV and AIDs agenda,

fails precisely on this count. It denies young people their Right to

Information. The way HIV prevention is addressed in the Teacher’s Workbook is

highly inadequate.

 

Despite citing the fact that 86% of cases of HIV are sexually transmitted, the

curriculum provides scant information on how sexual transmission occurs and how

to protect oneself against this particular means of transmission. It is very

difficult to explain how HIV is transmitted sexually if one doesn't explain what

sex is in the first place. The curriculum leaves young people in the dark,

solely mentioning that HIV is transmitted sexually and leaving out the hows,

whys, and all-important information on HIV protection during sexual activities.

The material makes false assumptions. It assumes that all young people are able

bodied, attracted to the opposite sex, that all those who are born male are

masculine and all those who are born female are feminine.

There is only tokenistic reference in the material to the diversity that exists

among young people.

A failure to address issues of diversity will aggravate the discrimination and

prejudices that exist in mainstream society today against all those young people

who do not conform to stereotypic expectations.

The curriculum violates basic principles of education. Any curriculum needs to

have at its core the needs of the learner. The only concern that manifests

itself in the NACO curriculum is abstinence only until marriageâ to prevent HIV

and AIDs agenda.

In its desire to control ˜high risk behaviour, the curriculum does not even

inform young people on how to stay safe.

What it seeks to do instead is to discipline young minds to make them adhere to

stringent social and moral norms.  Education is meant to enable the learner to

critically understand their realities and to make informed decisions.  The

contradictions are indeed stark.

The fear that a curriculum that addresses issues of sex and sexuality will

increase sexuality activity among young people is unfounded.

 

Young people in India are already sexually active. The National Family Health

Surveys II and III show that

 

-More than one-quarter of Indian women married before age 15; over half

married18[1].

-20 percent of women had sexual intercourse before they were 15 years old, and

55 percent before age 18[2].

 

-One in six women age 15-19 have begun childbearing[3].

 

Research across the world has shown that sex education does not lead to sexual

activity at a younger age.[4]  There is also no evidence to show that

abstinence promoting material reduces the age at which young people become

sexual active.[5]

 

The NACO material is clearly out of synch with the lived realities of young

peopleâ€' lives. Since 1996, TARSHI, a Delhi based NGO, has hosted a

confidential telephone helpline service providing information, counselling, and

referrals regarding sexuality and reproductive health issues.

Even a few examples from the 60,000+ calls received show how inadequate the NACO

material is in addressing the needs of young people:

 

-an 18-year-old girl called to ask if kissing causes conception

-a young man, age 18 years, called to say that he had found a lump

in his testes but could not talk to his parents about it

-numerous callers have asked whether activities like kissing, eating lunch, or

sucking nipples can cause HIV

 

It is clear that the reason why NACO has almost entirely shunned any reference

to sex and sexuality is the backlash that the earlier version of the material

triggered.

This, however, cannot constitute a justification for the denial of young

people's right to sexuality education.

What is needed is a national level policy on sexuality education, which will

inform all curricula related to adolescence education/life skills education in

the country. Such a process must involve representatives of youth groups,

educationists, groups working on child sexual abuse, sexual rights groups,

disability rights groups and women’s organizations.

This is essential in order to ensure that young people receive sexuality

education which enables them to

-Reduce vulnerability to child sexual abuse

-Stay healthy and protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections,

including HIV

-Feel confident and comfortable with themselves and their bodies

-Understand their own rights and respect the rights of others

[1] The women who were interviewed were between the ages of 20 and 49. Ministry

of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, National Family Health Survey

III, Vol II p. 212. 2007

 

[2] The women who were interviewed were between the ages of 20 and 49. Ministry

of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, National Family Health Survey

III, Vol II p.217. 2007

[3] Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, National Family

Health Survey III, Vol II p. 33. 2007

[4] WHO Technical Report Series No.938 Preventing HIV/AIDS in Young People: A

Systematic Review of theEvidence from Developing Countries, 2006

 

[5] Mathematica Policy Research Inc. “Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510

Abstinence Education Programs, Final

Reportâ€. April, 2007

http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/impactabstinence.pdf

 

Please do respond by tomorrow.

In solidarity,

The Nirantar team

Subhalakshmi Nandi

e-mail: <nandi1610@...>