February 02, 2024 11:19 pm | Updated February 03, 2024 08:09 am IST – Thiruvananthapuram
Representational image.
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A pre-and-post-session test analysis of Project X, a comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programme for adolescents implemented in 50 schools in the district this academic year, has underlined the need to provide CSE to schoolchildren.
Project X was jointly implemented by the district administration, General Education department, and the NGO Kanal with Technopark-based Guidehouse as the corporate social responsibility partner. It covered 5,530 adolescents, with 63.37% of the students being girls and the remaining 36.63% boys. The programme delved into topics such as anatomy and physiology, sexuality and gender, relationships and consent, menstruation, and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act so that young students could be armed with accurate and age-appropriate information about sexuality, and sexual and reproductive health.
The Project X analysis highlighted the importance of making CSE part of the school curriculum, Anson P.D. Alexander, director of Kanal, said.
Pre-session, only 21.05% of the children were able to provide a correct definition of a child. This increased to 99.16% post session, he points out.
The percentage of students who knew about the age of consent (45.09%) and POCSO Act (28.34%) was slightly higher pre-session as compared to those who could define a child. This indicated that students had received some form of legal awareness in school. At the same time, it put a question mark on the effectiveness of such programmes.
Better convergence with other agencies would make these programmes effective and prevent repetition, he said.
The analysis also highlighted the need for CSE to be provided every year from Class I onwards in an age-appropriate manner as a number of kids who reported having bad experiences said these took place when they were very young, Mr. Alexander said. “It is important to teach the kids about safe and unsafe touch early on,” he said.
The percentage of children who knew about topics such as sex and gender, brain and sex, gender identity, and CSE was less than 0.5% pre-session. This indicated the need to provide formal knowledge to students on these topics as they were unlikely to get it from sources such as their peers or seniors.
The percentage of students who knew about sex organs too was not encouraging pre-session. Many could not name them properly, and at times they were referred to by abuse words.
Post-phase assessment
Mr. Alexander said Kanal was taking up a post-phase assessment of Project X involving 1,000 students, 500 of whom had attended the sessions and the remaining who had not to understand the real impact of the programme.
In the second phase of Project X, a day-long training session for 200 lower and upper primary teachers from 100 schools on CSE will be held in five batches this month. The modules for the training will cover introduction to CSE and understanding child development; communication skills and child-centred approach to CSE, and creating a safe and supportive environment that will essentially focus on legal aspects, he said.