Post Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2016
In order “to enable fathering of a valiant and vibrant man [or woman], the child must be groomed well in the formative years of his [or her] life.” Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, 1996
Comprehensive sexual health educationhas caused much debate in India in the last few years as several states including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh have banned Comprehensive Sex Education (hereinafter CSE) in their government schools. In 2005 after extensive research and with guidance from governmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, experts, parents, youth, civil societies, and several international entities, including, but not limited to, UNICEF, UNFPA, and USAID, the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the National Aids Control Organisation combined forces to create the Adolescence Education Programme (hereinafter AEP).
This programme was carefully designed to be both culturally and age appropriate and its goal was to equip the young people of India with the life skills necessary for them to make informed intelligent decisions for their lives. These life skills included learning about their body, how to build self-esteem, healthy family and peer relationships, nutrition, early marriage and pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, STIs, contraceptives, hygiene, and a host of other topics. The states that banned AEP argued that CSE would negatively impact adolescents but their arguments were and still are without merit.
Adolescence is the period where an individual transforms from a child into an adult and all adolescents need to be guided on how to react to the changes their bodies and emotions going through during this phase in their lives. Indian adolescents are no different. CSE teaches youth essential life skills and as the World Health Organisation (hereinafter WHO) points out in its Developing Sexual Health Programme report “accurate, evidence-based, appropriate sexual health information and counselling should be available to all young people.” The model that is used does not need to be the AEP model, but Indian youth do not only need universal CSE, but they are entitled to it.
The complete report is attached here.
Litigation
- Presentations from the Two Day Webinar on Reproductive Rights on 23rd & 24th of May, 2020
- Patna High Court: Ration facility for all transgender persons
- Nikhil Datar vs. Union of India: A long drawn struggle
- Patna High Court gives favourable order in response to the PIL on water logging in the state
- Guwahati High Court delivers landmark judgement; Department of Health and Family Welfare to pay Twenty Five Lakh Rupees to Petitioner in Nagaland
Fact Finding
- Presentations from the Two Day Webinar on Reproductive Rights on 23rd & 24th of May, 2020
- Report on the State level Consultation in Arunachal Pradesh on 2nd & 3rd November, 2019
- Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Dictionary
News
- Report of the two day webinar on ‘Access to Reproductive Justice’ on 23rd & 24th May, 2020
- Report of the National level consultation on Trans people and women’s issues- 28th & 29th December, 2019
- Nikhil Datar vs. Union of India: A long drawn struggle