For all those who think exposing kids to sex education wasn’t the best of options while they were in schools and colleges, the following could be a little more than shocking or so to say, zor ka jhatka dheere se!

All this as a UN report calls for early sex education amongst children so much so that it has recommended that children as young as five years old be taught about subjects like gender violence and masturbation.

In a report that is dated June, as reported by the news agency ANI, the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has strongly advocated pre-kindergarten sex education where children as young as five would be imparted mandatory education on various sexual acts that includes masturbation.

The report, called “International Guidelines for Sexuality Education,” separates children into 4 age groups: 5-to-8-year-olds, 9-to-12-year-olds, 12-to-15-year-olds and 15-to-18-year-olds, runs into 100-odd pages is learnt to offer a universal lesson plan for kids ranging between 5-18, where they are sensitized through an informed approach to effective sex, relationships and HIV education, that the UN feels was in many ways essential for “all young people.”

While many in our country are votaries of raise the age bar for sex education, the latest recommendation of the UN body might come in as a rude jolt despite the fact that the UN considers the new report as both progressive and “age appropriate.”

Many like me however would feel this disgusting at the very outset as this would be exposing the kids to sex a wee bit too early. At an age when they should be learning names of states, tables etc, knowledge of sexual acts and masturbation is something most Indian parents would not be able to reconcile to.

The UN’s voluntary sex-education programme however specifies that kids just as 5-8 years old be told that “touching and rubbing one’s genitals is called masturbation” and that private parts can feel pleasurable when touched by oneself.”

The report gopes on to add how at 9 years, they will know about “positive and negative effects of aphrodisiacs, and try to understand ideas of “homophobia, transphobia and abuse of power.”
At 12, the reports suggest, they’ll learn the “reasons for” abortions. When they’re 15 years, they’ll be exposed to direct “advocacy to promote the right to and access to safe abortion.”

Well, I do not have conflicting views on the last few points, I however shudder to think how, if UN suggestions were to be taken seriously, would I tell my four-year-old, a year later, how the birds and the bees do it!