Priya Kath, from India, is a youth representative attending the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) Partners Forum in Johannesburg, here she tells us why her government is wrong to oppose comprehensive sexuality education and why now’s the time for young people to speak out. More on the Youth Outcome Document can be found here http://www.who.int/pmnch/about/governance/partnersforum/youth/en/ There are 358 million young people in India today- that’s almost a third of the nation’s population. India’s development depends on its commitment to and investment in its young people, but when our Health Minister makes statements like “Sex education should be banned in schools” - it can make me despair. He also argues that sex education corrupts the youth and offends “Indian values”. He and many of his colleagues in government say that it may lead to promiscuity, experimentation and irresponsible sexual behavior. This is not the first time sex educatio...
We believe that we need better sex education in our culture, here in India, so that young friends learn about things like venereal disease before they encounter it.