John J. Kennedy | Why Our Schools Need To Start Sex Education Sooner, Rather Than Later

In 2009, a parliamentary committee led by M. Venkaiah Naidu even declared that sex education “pollutes young minds”

xThe Supreme Court's recent call to introduce sex education from a younger age, rather than waiting until Class 9, is a long-overdue step towards addressing one of India’s most persistent social foibles. For decades, we have been treating the subject of sex and sexuality with discomfort, silence or outright hostility in our schools. Research shows that early, age-appropriate and scientifically grounded sex education does not corrupt young minds, but protects them.

The opposition to early sex education in India has always been fierce, rooted mainly in notions of cultural sanctity and moral purity. For instance, since early in the 21st century, when the Adolescence Education