Question

To what extent should the schools be responsible for teaching sex education? To what extent should sex education be left to parents? Who should handle education about STDs?

Answer 1

There is a lot of ongoing debates about whether sex education should be taught by schools or by parents at home. Sex education is part of the curriculum in most of the schools but the way it is taught differs from school to school and students get confused about what’s real. Most of the educators in the school deliver sex education in their own comfortable way making it difficult for the students to understand things openly. When they get pieces of information, they would reach out to internet or someone who is of their level to clarify their doubts which will further worsen the scenario considering their age.

When we look at sex education at home, parents are not comfortable enough to discuss things with their children, except informing them about some physical changes they go through. It’s not just about the physiological changes but also about the psychological changes they undergo. This part, probably, the parents may not be able explain properly.

The part of STD could be handled by the school along with their sex education program. In my opinion both have the responsibility to impart sex education to the children as that would be holistic approach. This approach will address almost all the issues children face during the adolescents and there after such as physiological changes, psychological impacts, safe sex, result of unprotected sex such as financial risk, social imbalance, personal issues in either abortion or bringing up the child etc.