SEXUAL EDUCATION & ITS LIMITS IN INDIA

Why would sexual education lead to immorality and single parent families?

India need sex education as much as condom promotion to fight HIV/AIDS, there are 2.5 Mio HIV cases ( last estimation, earlier estimation was 5 Mio)
The Health Ministry and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) are keen on introducing basic sex education as part of life-skills training in schools. With most parents and teachers shying away from discussing issues of even a remotely sexual nature, many adolescents have little or no access to correct information about sex in many parts of the country.
According to UNICEF, a “question box” put up in schools in Sangli district of Maharashtra, inviting students to post queries, got over 1,00,000 questions in a year. And it makes sense since in UNESCO publications it was shown that over 50 % of adolescent were thinking that HIV looks like serious ill man and 30 % still believe HIV is transferred by moskitos.
In India there are several tendencies to keep sexual education out of school and the most simple reason is obviously, it was never a part of education. Now in times of HIV and more freedom under teenager ( India in general is still very restrictive in sexual freedom … but the time the… but the time the are a changing) you might think there is no way to bypass sexual education.

The good sprits state that, even four-year-olds should be aware of their body parts and know the difference between right touch and wrong touch. Only this way sex education will protect children from abuse. “Children must be made aware. But this education should be age-specific — subtle for smaller children and detailed for adolescent .
And they find a good reason to ban sex education in schools due to the explicit exercises that Yuva, the new handbook on sex education, prescribes.
The controversy over the explicit nature of the sex education course material for schools has put the Delhi government on the defensive. it was decided to withdraw Volume 1 of the teacher’s handbook Yuva.
Volume 1 is meant for classes VI-VIII and Volume 2 for classes IX-XII. The book was prepared by the Department of Education, Delhi and Delhi State AIDS Control Society on the basis of a module developed by the HRD Ministry and National AIDS Control Society (NACO).
Another educational aid for AEP is a 66-page ‘flip chart’ produced jointly by UNICEF and NACO. The first section of the chart has realistic illustrations of naked people of both sexes at different ages, and detailed drawings of the male and female genitalia. The second section on ‘sexually transmitted infections’ — which 15-year-old boys and girls are required to view together — has graphic illustrations of the male and female sexual organs as they appear with STI.
Six states of INDIA , which have the most people living with HIV/AIDS in the world, have banned sex education for adolescents or refused to implement the curriculum, saying the course material was too explicit and it was against Indian culture.

"We are not giving ideas to young people," Rao said.
"They are already there. Some people are in denial that young people experiment with sex. They need to get real," is the answer.

Teachers state that both volumes were used to train them during seminars in 2006. Both the curriculum and seminars did not go down well with them. “Teachers were very upset about it. It encouraged some people to ask very embarrassing questions to women teachers,
” One teacher revealed that at the seminar she attended — a gathering of both sexes — all present were asked to relate their first sexual experience.
And now we clearly can see the refusal of sexual education ….. due to to the Victorian style of the paste, Indians not even the educated teacher elite is able to speak openenly about sex and that together with the deep- saffron parties and elites will make sexual education imposible.

The Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, (Indian Saffron Radicals) which launched an agitation on July 14 for withdrawal of the books, claims the government planned to implement the programme in 2007 but backtracked after gauging the public mood
And Lalu Yadav (Ministry of Railways by that a specialist for sexual education anyway … now I understand why in the trains is always freezing cold) does not believe in sex education. We always suspected that he didn’t think much of family planning. But now we know that Lalu-ji would prefer it if his nine children were spared sex education lessons in the classroom.
According to the head of the Secondary School Teachers Association of Uttar Pradesh, all books that teach sex education should be withdrawn. Otherwise, the teachers will make a bonfire of them.
Teachers but books on fire ! Just because they are too embarrassed to discuss sex…. books must burn !

States like Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka have banned or refused to implement sex education in schools, saying the course material provided by the Centre is too explicit for Indian cultural sensibilities.

The controversy on sex education for school children has taken a severe turn in other Indian states. The Siksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has warned teachers that they may be violating the law if they take sex to the classroom.
In a letter to teachers across the country, they have noted that teachers can be charged under Section 354 of the IPC for outraging modesty of a woman, if they follow the exercises prescribed in the UNICEF training manual on sex education in their classrooms.
Among the exercises is one in which a girl and a boy are asked to shut their eyes and touch each other’s private parts. It is apparently an attempt to help students understand biological differences between men and women. “The teacher may plead that he has sought volunteers, but in matters of sex and touching/fondling with private parts, the consent of a minor in the eyes of law is no consent,” the letter said.
But obviously all this is wrong information because in the matter of fact there non such a training manual on sexual education of UNESCO … not for use in schools or any other educational or private occasions.

But there is Renuka Chowdhury’s suggesting that not only should sex education be taught in schools, but that Indian women should learn to take the safe sex in their own hands (no misunderstandings please) by buying condoms themselves because men tend not to bother. Renuka’s position is pretty much the government’s official line: in an era of AIDS prevalence and greater sexual awareness, it makes sense to educate people about sex in a serious and sensible way...
And my hero Renuka Chowdhury, also said "sex education is not titilating. It is not supposed to excite. It is to demystify. WHAW SO THERE ARE STILL NORMAL EDUCATED THINKING PERSONS HERE.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Tuesday differed with his ministerial collegue Renuka Chowdhury on sex education for children in schools, saying that it was having a "bad impact" on them and was destroying Indian culture.
Opposing sex edcuation in schools, Prasad said that "whatever information is being given about sex is having bad impact on children. It is not good. This also has bad impact on society".
Asked specifically whether he favoured such education for children, the RJD chief said, "No, not at all. This is a very bad thing. Our entire culture can collapse".
Meanwhile, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi has said sex education would lead to collapse of the education system and create an immoral society.

After all the BEE AND FLOWER MANUAL for teachers will come out, words like masturbation, arousal, erection , penetration, vagina , clitoris, penis and sexual intercourse have been deleted from the revised version of the training manual for teachers, diagrams which describe the journey from puberty to young adulthood have been done away with. This modified version is set to reach schools in a few weeks. If this will have any impact on HIV protection for sure not, but it will have a positive impact on birth control and that what is wanted the more Indian the better.

INDIA & TOURISMUS A CONTRADICTION ?

Recently in Indian Times the question was asked why India has 0nly 3,4 Mio tourist visits per year, but no real investigation followed.

Well I think 3,4 Mio is already a lot. But taken the exotic ideas in the mind of tourist and the huge number of must see attractions and natural parks it looks like a figure ready for improvement. To attract more visitors things has to change and get more attractive. In the following a list of items making India difficult to digest and less attractive if compared to other countries
· Already at the arrival hall there is a displeasing smell of a mixture of Cresol (for desinfication, dust and human sweat.
· Once outside the air terminal tourist will be asked by numerous people where there are going to, where there are coming from….. with the simple goal to get them in an taxi and charge more than the local range … or worse.
· Tourist are used to stay in line waiting for a taxi, in India you have no change …. People will go to get the first taxi still not lined up and pass you without even taking notice. This makes me personally always very aggressive.
· As soon as you enter a taxi, after the taxi check the brother (friend, father) of the taxi driver will enter. The only goal of this action is to press more money out of you by intimidation (I normally step out of the taxi if the second enter, later it will be difficult to do so).
· The taxis are mostly in a deplorable status, not meeting any security or hygienic standards, the same can be said for the drivers.
· As soon as the taxi stops at traffice lights, some beggars in lumps with faces as if they have to suffer all misery of this world will appear at the car window. Here most female tourist will not be able to resist.
· At least now the tourist will already be confrontated with the broad smell of human excrements and evaporating and decomposing urine
· As soon as arrived in the hotel, tourist will be confrontated with 2 forms, asking a lot of data. In most hotels the reception will insist that the forms will be completely filled out including the for western adult antic question as name of the father.
· As long as the hotel price is over 75 euro the tourist may expect a clean room. Below this value cockroaches may be present and toilet paper not available. Here also the tourist will be confrontated with the style of Indian wall painters, with droppings of paint on the floor and the attitude to paint also parts of the windows, by lack of any tape to get straight borders. Also the use of silicone around the bathtub you have to get used to.
· The next morning, staying in a real Indian hotel (s)he will be confrontated with real Indian breakfast, but by change there might be a toast (without toaster) and some marmalade. If (s)he does not take care they will come super sweet tea with milk and the coffee is always (even in the expensive hotels) prepared over the big filtering and evaporation machines of Nestle’ plants or comparable.
· The first walk outside the hotel will be training how to avoid walking on sidewalks. Because the sidewalks are already taken by trees, cattle, small shops (water/lemon sales, shoe cleaner, bicycle repair) desperate beggars or people asleep (frighten for newcomers because they look like death). Beside that Indians do not mind to park cars and motorbikes per preference on the sidewalks if the curbstones are not too high for them
· Now (s)he will also be confrontated not only with the smell of excrements and urine of all kind of animals but also with the smell of uncovered waste water channels and the sad attitude to put the garbage unprotected in the middle of the village open for the cattle, dog and the ravens. And of course during the night for rats and other night active animals.
· Now also you have to experience that a pedestrian in India as no rights. Nobody will even slow down if you cross the street. Zebra crossings have no meaning, traffic light may be seen as indicators, inviting to stop eventually
· Never come to the idea to rent a car, first the formalities will take one day at least and second driving without any rules is not as easy as you may have thought. The worst revelation will happen at traffic lights or railroad crossings. You maybe first, but soon you will have a car or motorbike on your left and right, this will continue until the first row is completely filled up leaving no space for any maneuvering. The same will happen to the second row etc. This would be still acceptable, but this behavior is not restricted to your lane also the lane for the oncoming traffic will be taken. That means if the light switches to green or the barrier opens at first nothing can happen, because on the opposite side the same procedure happened. You have to have nerves of steel cables to survive that.
· Bicycle or motorbike renting is not available, this is good so, because also as bicycle driver you have no rights and constantly you have to look for cattle, other bicycle drivers and motorbikes on the opposite side of the road (these are not disoriented western tourist) and you are constantly in danger, because of the deplorable status of the roads with potholes and open waste water manhole channels.
· Male tourist have to get used, to see only a part of the belly of the opposite sex and nothing else. Sad for them, who thought that all Indian girls are dressed like in Bollywood films and wiggling with the belly all the time. To look for a sexual adventure India is for sure not the right country …. And stay away of so-called street workers conform to the latest evaluation 1/ 3 is HIV infected.
· But maybe you would like to visit a bar in the evening, please stay in the hotel bar or ask an Indian friend, they are hardly pubs or bars available and when they are difficult to find (beside the hotel bars)
· Now finally you want to visit some of the famous touristic attractions as Taj Mahal Red Fort or Jaipur or Amber City or so. Please be prepared to count at least the double of the traveling time you may have dreamed of in one of your nightmares. Be prepared, before you enter in to this magnificent places you will first be confrontated with the raw sites of the city (smell for shit, beggars etc see above) and than you will have to pay 10 to 200 times more than an Indian tourist at the entrance (when will we finally ask 200 euro for The Louvre for all Indian citizen)
· Take care with guides, some of them are perfect and of big help, some of them are just jerks. Always agree the price in advance otherwise long disagreeable discussions will result afterwards.
· Indians are very proud about their food, for me really not understandable: for meat only chicken and so-called mutton (is goat) is available. Now you can combine this meat with turmeric, bay leave, coriander, or other spices and make it very spicy hot with green peppers, what comes out has always more or less the same taste … hot. At least for me good cooking is accentuating the natural flavor of food by adding spices, this is not Indian cooking. In Indian the natural flavor has to be killed. Especially for vegetables this is really a pity, in all the time I am in India I never could have the real taste of cauliflower or okra (ladyfinger) or beans and peas… this is one of my saddest experiences. Even in ratatouille, being a mixture of vegtables we still can distinguish between the different taste of the vegetables in India , this is due to excessive cooking not possible. Everything must be small and creamy , with lot od greavy , so you will be able to take it with a small piece of chipatti , naan or paratha and bring with the fingers to the mouth.
· Tourist doesn’t want to eat with fingers, they even think it is disgusting and it is indeed. Especially in the south if people start mixing the rice with gravy as mixing mortar, it is simply desgusting.
· Tourist hardly will find a bathroom during traveling (beside the expensive hotels) meeting by far the Western hygienic standards. So they will have to wait in the morning before the can start the touristic journey.And please always have your toilet paper wiith you.
· Train traveling as is own peculiarities, first there are hardly indications, the porters are very aggressive to get your small luggage, the comfort in the train is deplorable, the taste of food disappears as soon as you have passed trough the kitchen. Indian likes to have the air- conditioning at full performance. Western are used to 23 C, so at 19 being in summer cloths they start shivering.

I am still not finished with all recommendations, but I think for a while it is sufficient. And I am sure if all these items could be improved a lot more tourist would come to India and admire the great culture, very open- minded people and give positive impressions to their friends. And everything will get better now that the regional governement decided that also bus depots will be upgraded to tourist hotels !!!