TOP HONOUR: Sexologist Prakash Kothari receiving the lifetime achievement award from Dr. June M. Reinisch at the International Congress on Lifespan Sexuality Education in Hyderabad on Thursday. -Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Noted sexologist and Padmasri awardee Prakash Kothari favoured introduction of sex education from class 8 not only to drive away the misconceptions about sex but also to expose students to the reality of dreaded sexually transmitted diseases.

Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of first `International Congress on Lifespan Sexuality Education' here, Dr. Kothari says that is the age when children have maximum hormonal secretion leading to maximum sexual desires and have maximum chance of acquiring sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy.

"It is better they understood their body through proper education rather than grow with misconceptions emanating from half-baked information from other sources," he adds.

New curriculum

Dr. Kothari points out that it is all the more important because one third of Indians fall in that age group and if that kind of population grows with erroneous beliefs there is a huge danger for the country.

He dismisses the beliefs that sex education is nothing but teaching about sex. "It is nothing but teaching what they don't know about the natural changes occurring in the human bodies," he says.

He feels that sex education should be taught in a practical but scientific manner and teachers must be trained for it. "You have to make them comfortable about their sexuality for effectively imparting the same to the children. Unless they are trained to teach in the way it is to be taught it won't serve any purpose," he said.

"The curriculum needs to be in a respectable, effective and acceptable manner." Dr. Kothari said he had submitted a curriculum to the then President Shankar Dayal Sharma in 1994 but the Government had not taken any initiative on that.

YSR inaugurates meet

He now plans to prepare a new curriculum with the help of other academics incorporating the present day's challenges and present it to the Central Government.

He also saw a direct link between the success of family planning programmes and prevention of HIV/AIDS to introduction of sex education.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy inaugurated the meeting here on Thursday. Dr. Kothari was honoured with the lifetime achievement award on the occasion. Union Minister of State for Mines T. Subbarami Reddy was present. K. Swayam Prakash, Organising Chairman of the Congress was also present.

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