Our beliefs, attitudes and even reactions are a result of conditioning. And naturally, so is our perspective towards menstruation and the dialogue around it. My school had comprehensive sexuality education sessions when we were stepping into adolescence, and this is where I had my initial rendezvous with periods and its biology. So when I got my first, I was aware of what my body was going through.
When I say this, I do acknowledge that keeping in mind India’s education system; I am one of the privileged few. In retrospection, I have realised a couple of things. First, because we had these sessions separately for boys and girls, it reinforced the entire idea that everything about my body was only a ‘girl’s affair’. Second, there was no mention of the changes the male body goes through and vice versa in the boy’s sessions.
So What Are Policymakers Doing About It?
The New Education Policy of 2020 boasts of multiple entries and exit options in universities, less importance of board exams and focus on skill training. Yet it has no mention of something as substantial as comprehensive sexuality education.
This makes it evident how CSE is still not regarded as a necessity. However, under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the ‘Health and Wellness Curriculum’ has 11 modules that will focus on teaching what textbooks don’t. I wonder why!
These include growing up healthy; emotional well-being and mental health; interpersonal relationships; values and responsible citizenship; gender equality; nutrition, health and sanitation; promotion of healthy lifestyles; prevention and management of substance misuse; reproductive health and HIV prevention; safety and security against violence and injuries; and promotion of safe use of the internet, media and social media.
Menstruation is a part of the “growing up healthy” module. As a signatory of the 1994 UN International Conference on Population and Development, India is obliged to provide free and compulsory CSE for adolescents. If it fails to do so, it will be considered as a violation of human rights of Indian adolescents.
According to The Kashmir Images, experts claim that “Youth in India needs sex education more than the youth in any other country since child marriage ensures that one not only have sex at a young age, but girls also have teenage pregnancies.” However, the implementation of anything outside the textbook has a sad reality in India. An important question still lingers- how prepared are the stakeholders (i.e. parents, teachers and students)?
Are The Catalysts Ready?
I was in 7th grade. A guy in my class was taking out a notebook from my friend’s bag when he found something wrapped in newspaper. It was a sanitary napkin, and as he went on to open its packaging, we tried to stop him. He ran to the other end of the class with the pad in his hand, and the guys burst out in laughter, while my friend stood there red out of embarrassment as if she had done something wrong. The teacher was informed, and she scolded the guy in front of the class and asked him to “never touch a girl’s bag”.
A very crucial factor remains; the open-mindedness, availability of infrastructure and support from parents. Training of teachers has no inclusion of sex education training, so, a teacher who has specialisation in this field should be appointed. In 2014, our current health minister Harsh Vardhan opposed sex education in schools as he believed it went against Indian values and suggested that yoga should be compulsory.
I have this vivid memory of one of my CSE sessions. A maths teacher in our school who was conducting it along with the school counsellor said, “You all are girls. You must sit sophisticatedly. Pleat your skirts with your hands and then sit. Don’t keep your legs apart, especially on your period.”
There still seems to be a long way for our education system to go. Anecdotes from my friends and family members reveal that they never had anything like CSE in their adolescence. CSE feels like a pipe-dream in India. Even though there are a plethora of policies in place and relevant treaties signed by India, the ground reality remains despicable. Implementation, yet again, remains the biggest problem.
The author is a part of the current batch of the #PeriodParGyan Writers training programme.