Menstrual education advanced from high school to middle school

Education Department advances adolescence education to class 6 due to early puberty, emphasizing menstrual hygiene and reproductive biology.

With the average age of menarche advancing to nine to 11 years, the Education Department has decided to start providing adolescence education from class 6 from this year instead of class 8.

“This year, we are introducing a moral science module in the curriculum and adolescence education is a part of it. We will start teaching it to the students from class 6 onwards in an age-appropriate manner as the age of puberty is earlier than before now,” said K.V. Trilok Chandra, Commissioner of Public Instruction.

According to doctors, the age of menarche has advanced due to multiple factors. “The average menarche age of India was between 11 and 13 years. Now, it is not uncommon for girls to attain menarche as early as nine or 10 years. The kind of food consumed, lifestyle, etc. have contributed to this advancement. This is the reason why it has become mandatory to empower girls with the knowledge of reproductive biology by the age of nine to 11 years, instead of 12 to 14 years like before,” said N. Venkatesh, a gynecologist at Jayanagar General Hospital and a National Board professor.

Teachers at many government and private schools said they have already begun teaching students about menstruation, menstrual hygiene, and other bodily changes that occur around puberty from class 5 or 6.

“At home, parents do not teach girls about menstruation or menstrual hygiene freely. In our school, the women faculty ensure that we talk to them about these things, especially hygiene, from class 6. We also get PG medical students from government medical colleges to teach about menstruation with a visual presentation,” said the headmistress of a Karnataka Public School in South Bengaluru.

The principal of a well-known private school in Bengaluru said they had conducted a joint session on sex education for boys and girls and a session for just the girl students. “Emotional and physical changes, period products and hygiene are some of the things that were discussed in these sessions. While we can provide a general overview of these things for boys and girls together, some girls say they are not comfortable discussing it in front of boys. However, we also sensitise boys about menstruation,” she said.

But the joint sex education is not the case in most schools, according to students. “I feel uncomfortable talking about it. In my school, I am aware that they provided sex education to girls. But we were not in the class and I do not exactly know what they were taught,” said a male student of a private school at Banashankari.