Imparting sex-education in the schools of India has reminded a debatable issue.
Imparting sex-education in the schools of India has reminded a debatable issue. While many believe that it should be taken up in schools, others feel that being a delicate subject, parents should deal with their children in this regard.
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The children of the 90s are more aware that what their parents were at the same age, courtesy – the mass media. The onslaught of the foreign television channels has further led to youngsters to adopt liberal views.
The negative impact of the foreign media, propagating among the children, has been felt by the parents. Surveys indicate that on an average every urban student watches television for two hours daily. The overdose of vulgarity and crudity projected in the Indian cinema and video albums could make the foreigners blush with shame. No wonder, children are not satisfied with the explanation that they came into the world because their months were bitten by a bee.
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Imparting sex-education to the younger generation was felt because of the alarming because of HOV carries in India. The major cause for the spread of this dreaded disease to a healthy person is the physical relationship with an AIDS victim. Having one contracted this disease, science cannot provide succor to the victim, because no cure has been discovered so far.
The virus, HIV, causing AIDS gradually wrecks havoc on the body’s immune system. The patient suffers from severe weight loss, weakness, diarrhea, pneumonia and a hot of other diseases. The disease has several prejudices attached to it; hence, the patients are generally not cared for by the family and the members of the medical profession.
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Unawareness in the patients and lack of guidance by the parent and the society at large, lead to the death of such victims. To save the lives of several gullible youngsters from contracting the dreaded disease, parents should feel the need to educate their children. They should be explained the importance of upholding moral values and applying one’s discretion in choosing partners.
Another reason cited for the introduction of sex-education in school is the spurt in incidents of physical assault on minors. According to a WHO study, one in every ten children is sexually abused. Such incidents take place because parents shirk their responsibility of educating their children against such abuse by the elders.
It has also been noticed that most of the time the persons found guilty of assaults are known to the victims. Children being naïve, fall victim to the advances of the elders. They are forced to live with the trauma all their lives and are unable to recover from it. So, when the child is a minor, parents should educate him to avoid talking to strangers and not burred by sweets and chocolates.
At home, they should be asked to maintain a reserved attitude. Simple etiquettes of developing one’s behavior, mannerisms and how to sit and hold oneself in the company of elders should be inculcated in the child at an early stage. Children should never be left off guard by their parents.
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The pre-teens and the period of adolescence is the time when children experience changes, mental and physical. They begin to see world in a much mature way. Parents, at this stage, treat them as children, while they want to assert their age. The generation gap between the children and their parents widens at this stage of their interaction.
There is an undercurrent of hesitancy among the parents in discussing the problems faced by their teenaged children. The children, being inquisitive, turn to their friends. They gain access to misinformation through cheap pornographic literature or videos, which instill them with perverse ideas.
This results in their seeking carnal gratification at the hands of prostitutes who care little about personal hygiene. Such gullible teenagers fall victim to sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea, chlamydiasis, syphilis and trichomoniasis.
In girls, the lack of information about the adverse effects of maintaining a physical relationship with a boy, could lead to teenage pregnancies and abortions. Many girls are duped into such relationships because of lack of proper guidance from parents.
Parents, in India, are known to hide their affection towards each other, in front of their children. They resort to the stiff upper lip tradition of the British, when it comes to display of love for their spouse in the presence of their children. The children grow up to believe that love is a taboo and it is perverse to display one’s affection in public.
Hence, display of proximity by a boy or a girl by shaking hands, walking hand-in-hand or even talking becomes an object of attention or ridicule. This makes the children desirous of developing friendship with the opposite sex, as it would mean being defiant to the norms lay down by the society.
Parents should understand the psyche of their children. Subjects, which are passed off as taboo by them, would be pursued by their children to break the orthodox barriers. Parents should initiate their children in the meaning of love.
The love they display for their children, by giving gifts, sharing and caring for them, can be shown for each other too by behaving like perfectly normal friends. Such a demeanour of the parents towards each other, would instill in them the feeling that love not only means sharing and caring for each other, it also means accepting this responsibility of the other.
During the period of adolescence, parents should befriend their children to help them cope with the changes they undergo during this period. A secure family atmosphere, in their growing years would not make them vulnerable to immoral acts. Parents should talk with their children moral often to give them the feeling of security in the family.
This could make the children open up their problems and help the parents root out the cause; interaction with the friends of their children also would give an idea about their background and the minds of the younger lot. The parents should take in their children as confidants and warn them against developing friendships with immoral friends.
They should also narrate some of their misadventures, indulged in while young, because of improper guidance. They should be told about the repercussions of such misadventures in later life, to help them face their life properly.
Children should also be told that love life of a person should begin after student life, as education would give them awareness and the maturity to handle responsibilities. They must be making to understand that every stage in life comes at a certain age and stays for a period. Infancy preceded school life, which gave way to college life and later the pursuit of an occupation.
No stage in life repeats itself and gives way to the next stage. Rather than turning their backs to the responsibilities, if parents inculcate the true essence of love in their children there would be a reduction in several crimes.
School being the second home to the child, should also feel responsibility towards him. Though the initial seeds of learning are sown at home. School life remains an integral part of every child’s development. If parents rise up to their responsibilities, the mission of the schools in propagating sex education among the students could be achieved.
Parents might find it difficult to come to terms with the growth of their child. But in schools they could be collectively educated with the help of special teachers, Psychologists or medical consultants. Parents may sometimes find it impossible to resolve their children’s riddles these could be looked after by an expert.
Sex education in schools would dispel many of the myths prevalent among children. This would also discourage them from gaining access to filthy magazines. Many of the misconceptions could only be rooted out from the society it sex education in schools is taken up for the benefit of the students and the community at large.