When Tejwinder Anand was in high school in the mid-’90s, his teachers glossed over the topic of human reproduction. For the school, it was an embarrassing topic, which they could avoid because it did not carry a lot of marks. So, Tejwinder did not have a clear picture of the subject. Whatever knowledge he acquired, he did outside school.
Three decades later, the subject of sex remains taboo for many teachers in the country. Adolescents still have many questions unanswered — for instance, the changes they undergo during puberty. Unlike 30 years ago, the digital age has made many options available to quench their curiosity. But there is a lot of misinformation, too and they do not know what or who to trust.
“There is a need for authentic, trusted sources of information. We need to train teachers to guide the students concerning topics like sexual and reproductive health,” says Tejwinder, who is the lead for Technology and Communications at the Population Foundation of India (an NGO), whose online platform Educately offers teacher-training courses in adolescent health and well-being.
Educately, launched in 2020, aims to connect with adolescents and their support network, including parents, educators, community members, and policymakers. They offer free resources covering various aspects of adolescent well-being, including reproductive and sexual health, mental wellness, and building healthy relationships.
Their primary offering is the ARSH (Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health) For You teacher training course, which introduces teachers to the basic principles that impact adolescent health and well-being. These comprise discussions on growth and changes in the human body, factors that impact identity, such as sex, gender and sexuality, relationships, and conception and contraception.
“It’s a small module and it is free. Teachers can do it at their own pace. We designed it this way because teachers already have a lot of schoolwork. So, they might find it a little too much to do an extra course,” says Tejwinder.
The other courses on the platform are Adolescent Problem-Solving Counselling Training (APT) and Integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health (ISRH).
So far, over 13,000 teachers have signed up for the courses available in English and Hindi. “So far, most of the teachers signed up on the platform are from Bihar, Jharkhand, and Manipur. We plan to add more regional languages to invite teachers from other parts of the country as well,” adds Tejwinder.
The courses, he says, are not just for Biology teachers. “When we went through the educational curricula, we found that adolescent health and well-being is scattered across subjects like social studies, general science, and more. So, any educator can sign up for the course.”
Sathish Kumar, who works at a private school in Erode, says the course has been beneficial to him in talking to his adolescent students. “Recently, there was a news report about contraceptives and condoms found in a schoolkid’s bag in Karnataka. Kids are exposed to a lot of things these days. And a teacher needs to understand them and talk to guide them properly. The ARSH course helps in this regard,” he says.
Educately has also piloted an offline program to train educators at school.
The courses are available for free at educately.org/courses
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