The word ‘sex’ arouses the curiosity of Sri Lankan society. It topped the list of countries that searched for the word ‘sex’, (data from Google Trends) for many years. Let’s see the reason for it.

According to the data of NCPA, during the first 2 months of 2018, 1532 cases of abuse were reported.  Most of the child abuse cases reported is due to sexual harassment. My opinion is it is because of the lack of awareness on sexual education. Due to this lack of information/awareness, children become more at risk as they do not know what is right/acceptable, the ways of abuse, how you can avoid it and how to ask for help etc. I feel that such incidents can be reduced if sex education is included in the school curriculum.

In the present education system, sex education is included in the Health Studies text book in grade 8.But in the majority of mixed schools, this lesson is not taught. Teachers are reluctant to teach this lesson. It is important to impart this knowledge through school. By hiding such needed information from students, it encourages them to be more curious and find out facts on sex from inappropriate sources.  This is sometimes dangerous and can cause them to face difficulties or unexpected outcomes such as child pregnancies.

Sri Lanka topping the list for’ googling’ the word ‘’sex’’ is proof of this curiosity and lack of knowledge.  No one realizes that most of these crimes occur due to ignorance and is the fault of the education system. It also affects our culture in a negative way. How many child mothers are there in Sri Lanka? Unawareness and curiosity are the main reasons for it.

As I mentioned before, sex education begins in grade 8 and extends to grade 11 Science. But, topics relevant to day to day life issues and decisions of adolescents connected to sex education and specially birth control are not discussed. It is discussed and length only in A’ Level Biology. According to Sri Lankan law, one can get married after the age of 18.But to lead a successful married life; the above facts must be discussed.  The majority of low income families in rural areas have more children. Main reason for this is the ignorance of family planning and its benefits to one’s health and the well-being of the family.

If these problems are to be minimized, sex education has to be introduced in detail to the school curriculum.

R.M.K. Ganga Madhavi