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Society
Pre-Marital Sex: What Kids Must Know
by Swapna Majumdar
 It took Sweden 50 years to
do it. In India, it might take even longer to include sexuality
education in the school curricula, if the ongoing debate is any
indication. Indian parliamentarians have just recommended that sex
education for the young be banned, and indeed several states in the
country have already done so. But, as a new Indo-Swedish collaborative
study points out, the longer there is resistance to equipping
adolescents with information associated with puberty and sexual and
reproductive health (SRH), the greater are the chances of an increase in
premarital sexual curiosity and its associated health risks.
The study found growing evidence from across the country that a
significant proportion of young boys and girls had become sexually
active before marriage. According to research conducted by MAMTA, a
Delhi-based NGO working on SRH, and the Swedish Association for
Sexuality Education (RFSU), there has been an increase in the percentage
of unmarried young Indians becoming sexually active in the past five
years. The study, which focused on urban and rural areas of Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka over a five year period beginning 2003,
found that in 2004, 5.8 per cent unmarried young people had sexual
intercourse. This figure increased to 7.4 per cent in 2006 and 7.5 per
cent in 2008. More unmarried males (9.3 per cent in 2004 and 10.2 per
cent in 2008) reported having a sexual experience compared to unmarried
females (0.5 per cent in 2004 and 3.2 per cent in 2008).
What is worrying was that very often they did not use protection, either
because of lack of information or lack of access to the means to gain
it. "Considering the sensitivity of the subject and the taboos
associated with it, it was important to adopt an approach that would be
culturally acceptable. On the other hand, we also needed to measure
their knowledge, attitude and practice on sexual health to be able to
design strategies to address their needs. This is why we sought the
support of RFSU, as it has expertise on SRH and sexuality education,"
said Dr Sunil Mehra, Executive Director, MAMTA.
According to Maria Andersson, International Director, RFSU, even though
people as young as 16 years were sexually active in Sweden and
premarital sex was not considered taboo there, it is a proven fact that
increased sexual knowledge had prevented unwanted pregnancies and
sexually transmitted infections (STIs) there. She believed that even
though the two countries had different cultural beliefs, with Sweden
being a more open society than India, there was no reason to think that
the same approach would not work in India. "Good sexuality education
enabled people to find joy in their sexuality and gave each individual
an opportunity to make decisions about his or her own body. Our strategy
is to support and encourage young people to make their own decisions and
not let anyone else, including friends, group pressure or expectations,
influence them. Providing relevant facts was important, but it was not
enough. We also support responsible behavior that includes using
contraceptives and allowing them to discuss and reflect on the
importance of this knowledge that contraceptive use should not be the
responsibility of women alone, a strategy easily adaptable to Indian
conditions," she contended.
Building on RFSU's experience that investing adequate and quality time
in understanding the gaps was critical before implementing any strategy,
32 villages in Bawal Block of Rewari district in Haryana, 31 villages in
Pindra Block of Varanasi district in Uttar Pradesh and four urban slums
in Kormangala in Bangalore, Karnataka, were chosen to identify the key
areas of health needs associated with puberty. They included
menstruation, personal hygiene and contraception, a less talked about
issue.
At the same time, it was decided to study the impact of imparting
adolescent education to 5,000 school children in four schools - two of
girls and two of boys, in urban Rewari and rural Bawal - to assess
whether this changed their perceptions on premarital sex, unwanted
pregnancies, STIs, HIV-AIDS, sexual abuse and equity in decision making
powers of girls and boys.
"Unlike in India, in Sweden sexuality education is compulsory in schools
and has been since 1955. The right to sexual and reproductive health
services and sexuality education is the key to ensuring gender equality.
RFSU sees openness on sexuality as the point of entry of health
promotion and the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and
HIV/AIDS. This is why the strategy for India was also to break the
culture of silence and let young people open up on these sensitive
subjects," pointed out Andersson.
After spending time with young people, their parents, teachers and
community leaders, MAMTA found that in addition to interventions like
training peer educators, it would be more useful to adapt RFSU's concept
of youth clinics where information on SRH could be accessed without fear
or embarrassment. Thus was born youth information centres (YIC).
Since young people, particularly girls, were more vulnerable to STIs,
YICs facilitated information sharing; and also worked closely with
community and religious leaders and sensitized Panchayati Raj
Institution (PRI) members on issues of education and school retention.
The most important outcome of this strategy were attitudinal changes.
In all the intervention areas, age at marriage was delayed among young
people. The percentage of girls that married below the legal age of
marriage fell from 61.2 per cent in 2004 to 45.2 per cent in 2008. For
boys, the corresponding figures were 79.5 per cent and 76.2 per cent,
respectively.
By 2008, the perception that education was important for girls led to
38.5 per cent young men whose sisters had dropped out of school, to
argue that they could share some household chores with their sisters and
help them get more time for studies. Nearly 26.9 per cent young men felt
that they could convince their parents to allow their sisters to
continue studies as external candidates.
Using RFSU's technical expertise in gender sensitization, the sexuality
education curriculum under the adolescent education programme (AEP) was
developed for students of Classes VIII, IX and X based on an assessment
of their knowledge and needs. At the end of three years, a comparison
was made between students of Class 10 who had been through the sexuality
education curriculum and Class 11 students of the same school who had
not experienced it. Irrespective of the location of the school, boys and
girls who had been through the programme were able to identify and
reject common misconceptions about nocturnal emissions, masturbation and
myths related to HIV transmission. Girls in Class X were able to
understand that the oral pill did not protect them from STIs and HIV,
while a significant number of urban and rural girls said they would
decline to have sex without a condom and oppose sexual abuse.
The evidence clearly is that increased sexuality knowledge decreases
risky behavior and boosts gender equality. MAMTA is now hoping that its
research findings will influence policy makers in India to formulate a
more rational and relevant national policy on sexuality education.
May 3, 2009
By arrangement with
WFS
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