Sex education for pre-teens

MUMBAI, Oct 19: Sex education will be imparted to pre-teen students (11 and 12 years of age) for the first time in Mumbai under a Univers...

MUMBAI, Oct 19: Sex education will be imparted to pre-teen students (11 and 12 years of age) for the first time in Mumbai under a University Grants Commission-sponsored two-day programme, to be held in November.

The programme, titled `HIV-AIDS programme for pre-teens,’ will be implemented in 20 co-educational schools between Bandra and Vile Parle. The proposal of the programme had been forwarded to the UGC by Dr Reeta Sonawat, a reader with the Human Development Department, Postgraduate Studies and Research, SNDT University. Sonawat said she will familiarise twelve of her Master of Social Welfare students with the programme, and they will teach pre-teen students from private and municipal schools.

In 1994, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) started a programme `AIDS Prevention Education in Student Youths’ for Std IX students in 200 schools. “We have been associated with this programme since its inception, and even as we continue with it, we’ll be launching the new drive,” Sonawat said. Such adrive was important, she told Express Newsline, in view of the number of AIDS patients in the age groups of 5 to 14 and 15 to 19.

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The programme content has been designed to suit pre-teen students. For instance, students will be asked about their interpretation of love and relationships, and they will be given the symbol of a sun, with love inscribed on it. On each of the six rays shown, they will be asked to identify persons they love. They’ll be free to add as many rays as they wish. This exercise is mainly intended to know their interpretations.

Then they will be shown pictures of different parts of the body and asked to mention their favourite and most disliked parts, with reasons. After this, information on child abuse physical, emotional and sexual will be given through slides. There will be other slides too, which students will be asked to interpret.

Information on primary and secondary sex characteristics, as well as myths and misconceptions on sexuality, will also be given. However, issuessuch as rape, condoms or homosexuality will not be discussed, unless students enquire about it, Sonawat informed.