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Why do we need sex education?

In India, the high rate of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) is an indicator of the lack of education about sex. This stems from the fact that it is taboo in Indian society to talk about sex or physical relationships, but also from the lack of sex education in schools. Many leave school and start having sexual partners without the most basic information about sex, contraception and STIs.

Young people in India are in need of sex education more than most countries because of the young age at marriage and therefore the young age of first sex and pregnancy. However, within the government and society there are conflicting opinions on the need for sex education, many believing it promotes promiscuity.

However, in a study called Dying to learn: young people, HIV and the churches, Christian Aid found that "good quality education can prolong abstinence and reduce numbers of sexual partners, as well as reducing the incidence of teenage pregnancy and levels of STIs and HIV" (2004).

Read more in the news:

Sex education: Why India should go all the way by Insia Amir (Times of India 26 April 2009)

India in denial over sex education by Anindita Segupta (The Guardian 16 August 2009)

For more information about sex education, please check the links in the left menu bar.

See also : Sex and Sexuality Myths ,  Sex and Reproduction

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