By Zofeen Ebrahim, International Press Service:
October 31, 2007
HYDERABAD, India. Sahinaz Khatun, who is preparing for her school finals in a village in West Bengal state, has for the last two years kept condoms (and birth control pills) at her home and thinks nothing of discussing subjects like menstruation hygiene and masturbation with other adolescents.
Khatun is among the 200 young people attending the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights (APCRSH) demanding the right to sex education.
“Talking about sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is not going to make us errant or licentious,” she said, adding that there are people in her community who still feel this is not the right thing for a young unmarried woman to be doing. “In some ways they are right,” she says. “But then schools and parents have absolved their responsibility.”
She spoke vociferously against the ban on sex education recently imposed by 12 Indian state governments in their schools.
At the conclusion of the three-day conference, on Wednesday, the fairly large youth group circulated an open letter to the governments of the Asia-Pacific region stating: “Young people face significant barriers to sexual and reproductive information, resources and services and need age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education that is evidence-based and non-judgemental.”
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