There has been tremendous opposition to sex education, especially for adolescents, and controversy arose in 2007 when India’s Ministry of Human Resource Development promoted a sex education curriculum. Many opponents argued that sex education would corrupt adolescents and run counter to traditional Indian values. In addition, they believed it would lead to promiscuity and irresponsible behavior. Finally, they argued that sex education was a Western construct that was being imposed on India. These arguments have led to bans on sex education programs in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Goa.
The Maharashtra government banned sex education in schools in March 2007. The ban came after ruling and opposition lawmakers in the Legislative Assembly claimed that Western countries had forced the central government to implement the program. in April 2007, Basavaraj Horatti, Karnataka’s minister of primary and secondary education, said the program had been put on hold amid complaints from teachers. Teachers complained that the books were aimed at increasing condom sales and were sexually provocative. A women’s organization, Akhila Bharatha Mahila Samskruthika Sanghatane, is also protesting the curriculum in the state.
On May 15, 2007, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on the recommendation of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue Dinanath Batra, removed sex education from the national curriculum on the grounds that it was against Indian values. Batra suggested that yoga be added to the curriculum. This idea was criticized by gender scholar S. Anandhi, who wrote that sex education was essential to combat child sexual abuse and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Later that same year, Batra wrote a letter on behalf of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti stating that teachers who followed the sex education curriculum could be imprisoned for two years on charges of “insulting the dignity of women.”
In May 2007, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje wrote a letter to Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh. In the letter, she said that children in grades 9 and 11 do not need sex education because they are in the early stages of puberty. Ghanshyam Tiwari, the state’s education minister, said they already have a life skills course called Jeevan Shaili, which is sufficient.
In June 2009, Orissa Education Minister Bishnu Charan Das said they had delayed the introduction of sex education for a year due to protests from teachers’ organizations and student political groups. Rajendra Burma of the All India Democratic Students Organization (AIDSO) claimed that this would lead to innocent students being too curious about sex.
In July 2009, a teachers’ association protested the introduction of sex education in Uttar Pradesh. Om Prakash Sharma, head of the association, said it would lead to embarrassing questions being asked by students. He threatened to burn the books on a bonfire if they were not withdrawn.
Ram Madhav of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) says sex education is not appropriate for Indian society. He suggested that workshops be held only for adults to warn them against adopting a promiscuous lifestyle. Prakash Javadekar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) proposed that sex education should include abstinence-only education. Murli Manohar Joshi, another BJP leader, said the curriculum would interfere with children’s psychological development and claimed multinational companies were behind the push for condom sales.
For more than 60 years, the Communist Party and Congress government have refused to act on sex education.
Opponents of sex education for young people will be swayed if it is seen as culturally sensitive and in line with Indian values. This can be achieved if the government and NGOs work in concert to create a curriculum that is acceptable to both schools and communities. Over time, this trend may change, as adolescents tend to have a more liberal view of sexuality than adults.
