And that crucial lesson may be out of the question for lakhs of school children
in Karnataka. Last month, the state government decided to keep sex education
out of the syllabus after NGOs and activists opposed it as being 'culturally
insensitive.'
"The Chief Minister, the minister for primary education, and myself - all three
of us have decided that sex education will not be allowed in Karnataka at this
juncture," says Minister, Higher Education, DH Shankarmurthy.
But the students don't agree.
"It's not a taboo subject anymore. And it's better we know about sexually
transmitted diseases like AIDS," says a student.
"It helps us to know things happening around us - that the world is not as rosy
as it seems," says another student.
In fact, UNAIDS' advice is to change the syllabus but not ban it.
"Just because some parts of the programme are objectionable, the whole
programme should not disappear," says Broun.
That lesson about birds and bees has been proving elusive but with UNAIDS
stepping in, maybe sex education might just get a new lease of life some time
in the future.
