Maharashtra is among states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh that have banned sex education from both the CBSE and state syllabus.

“The demand for sex education among youth is ever growing for various reasons such as the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, early maturation age owing to improved nutritional status, delay in age of marriage and increased exposure among youth with more opportunities for interaction among young boys and girls,” says Usha Ram, one of the co-ordinators of the study.

“Cutting across the states, schools or colleges are the main providers of the knowledge on the matter. The situation in Bihar and Jharkhand is more serious as less than one-tenth of young women and men have ever received any information on family life or sex,” says Sanjay Mohanty, another co-ordinator.

The first-ever survey to study the behavioural pattern of the youth in the country — conducted across six states — has revealed a lack of comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The survey was conducted by the Mumbai-based International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), in collaboration with the Population Council, New Delhi, at a time when the Centre has begun work on formulating the next National Youth Policy.

According to the study, only 12 per cent young men and 25 per cent young women have received any family life/sex education in Maharashtra. This when 41.8 per cent married males, 31.6 per cent married females, 51 per cent unmarried males and 31.8 per cent unmarried females in the state have comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Though 94.8 per cent of married males, 64.6 per cent married females, 94.5 per cent unmarried males and 55.4 per cent unmarried females have heard of condoms, only 89.9 married males, 39.3 per cent married females, 83.1 per cent unmarried males and 18 per cent unmarried females have correct specific knowledge of condoms.

“The youth have more acquaintance and proximity with their teachers. The data shows that of those young women and men who received any sex education, majority received it from their teachers and this is probably the reason that they consider teachers to be the best people to impart sex education,” says Usha Ram.

Integrating sex education in school curriculum has remained a contentious issue in the country though some states have gone ahead and included it on a pilot basis.

The study further reveals that the youth residing in urban areas and educated apparently are slightly better off as compared to those living in rural areas who have received no or less sex education.

And among the young people who got information about sexual matters from any source, there was significantly low percentage of unmarried women.

“The findings of our study reveal that marriage is the key to learning sexual and reproductive matters as neither service providers nor the gatekeepers mind when married young women and men seek information on sexual matters as it is socially acceptable and there is no socio-cultural taboo attached to this. However, in our society there is enormous cultural barrier/stigma attached to seeking information on matters related to sexual and reproductive health by unmarried young people,” said Usha Ram.

“Demand for sex education is more among urban youth than those residing in the rural areas as the urban youth are socially and economically better off, they are better educated and have greater awareness of various sources of information including mass media. The urban youth understand the importance and awareness of sex education to their life,” she said.

THE STUDY

IIPS undertook the household-based survey in six states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh — from January 2006 to take forward the 10 thematic issues raised in a worldwide study conducted by the UN. Over 1.5 lakh households were interviewed.

There were 300 primary sampling units from each of the states, with 150 units each from urban and rural areas. And each of the units surveyed had 75 men and an equal number of women. For the study, 25,641 households were interviewed in Maharashtra, 37,893 in Tamil Nadu, 28,258 in Jharkhand and 28,585 in Bihar. Youth in the 15-24 years age group were divided into four categories of married males (MM), married females (MF), unmarried males (UM) and unmarried females (UF). The fact sheets for Rajasthan will be ready soon and that of Andhra Pradesh by April 2008.