‘Adolescence now starts at 9’: New course to sensitise schoolchildren – Times of India

The early adolescent years are now from 9 to 13, middle adolescence from 14 to 16, and late adolescence from 17 to 19. The youth years are from 15 to 24. Garcha said: “In the age group of 10 to 13, we observe a spike in secondary sex. After 14, children start building a separate identity from their parents and making new relationships with peers and opposite sex, in their desire for experimentation. By the age of 17 or 19, they have a distinct identity, well-formed opinions, and independent ideas.”

Keeping this in mind, the Adolescent Education Programme has been launched in the district’s government schools. The children in classes VIII to XII in 533 middle, high, and senior secondary schools of Ludhiana district will be sensitised about drug abuse, adolescent reproductive health, and HIV-Aids, besides being given sex education and lessons on gender equality.
This programme is about physical, physiological, psychological, socio-cultural, and interpersonal issues of reproductive health. This knowledge will give the schoolchildren a proper understanding of the process of growing up and inculcate in them a healthy attitude towards sex, respect for the opposite gender, and awareness of responsible sexual behaviour. This will help them understand the implications of AIDS, the causes and consequences of HIV infection, as well as the ways and means of preventing it.

An advocacy programme was conducted at Government Senior Secondary Smart School on the campus of Punjab Agricultural University on Tuesday, where principal Garcha and Youth Services assistant director Yadvinder Singh were the resource people. The deputy district education officers, nodal officers for this programme, were in attendance. They will take his programme to 5,057 schools of the state, where they will train a female and a male teacher of each campus.

State project coordinator (science) and district nodal officer Sushil Bhardwaj said about the programme that: “It is high time to sensitise children about they issues they can’t discuss freely with their parents. We have been sensitising the children through the online medium but now offline activities such as painting competitions, role plays, and dances will be used to communicate the message.” The State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) will share the schedule. Moga will be the first aspirational district to distribute this educational content among the students.

Assistant nodal officer Pradeep Chhabra said: “We will try to channelise the students’ energy through interactive teaching and life-skill education.”