Happy Teacher’s Day: A Peep into our Classes
When we as students became excited, for the 8th standard’s “Reproduction” chapter in Biology, it was quickly squashed by the drone of Biology teachers, muttering the words such as “ovary” and “penis” and reading out the examples of modes of reproduction in animals and plants. We all remember dissecting the poor Hibiscus flowers and then regurgitating differences between Asexual and Sexual modes of reproduction to score marks in our exams. The menstruation cycle became this jargon of hormones we needed to memorise, not the lived reality of half of the population, outside the labs and textbooks.
Ironic that, coming from the land of Kamasutra, our youth felt too shy to even utter the word “sex” in front of their parents. “Arey sharam karo, log kya kahenge?” was the stern line many of us received when we tried to discuss such topics or even watched a condom ad on TV in front of them.
Heart of our mission: The Workshops
Starting from a safe little digital space, our organisation grew, and now we have become a team of youth leaders, spearheading the movement of removing the “sharam” from these topics, one initiative at a time.
At the core of it, our workshops, such as the Bridging Gaps and S.A.C.R.E.D Project, make the magic happen.
From content rigorously developed, based on global guidelines and contextualised to suit the Indian sensibility, to supporting students in becoming agents of their sexual-emotional health and well-being, we continue to thrive and bring sex education from hushed tones to enthusiastic FAQ sessions. We have conducted 200+ workshops and over 45,000+ individuals have been impacted.
What is Bridging Gaps?
The Bridging Gaps, as the name suggests, is meant to be the conversation we never really got while growing up about sex, puberty, and everything in between. Our workshops are interactive, interspersed with knowledge and fun activities, to truly hit home the concepts of sexual well-being to the students.
The key thematic areas included in these one-of-a-kind workshops are:
- Human Body and Development
- Sexuality and Safe Sex Behaviour
- Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Understanding Gender
- Relationships
- Skills for Health and Well-Being
- Values, Rights, Culture, and Sexuality
We boast about our measurable impact as well, with pre and post-workshop surveys in place, which is the key focus in all our initiatives, We believe in going the extra mile ;).
Want to hear the numbers? From our past cohorts:
58% of participants’ confidence has increased in the knowledge of sexual health;
47% of them showed improvement in understanding sexual harassment and its legalities;
42% of them have shown improvement in sensitisation towards gender and sexual minorities.
Facilitators, the “Teachers” of Our Organisation
How does it feel, to interact with the children and shatter taboos? “I love it!” says Sanskriti, our Peer Education and Awareness Associate Head. “We have conducted sessions for the Bridging Gaps at Tagore International School and Ahmedabad, and the best part for me is the FAQ sessions post workshops, where we let the students ask us, quite possibly anything.” Anything?
“Yeah, things they are hesitant to ask their parents and teachers, about masturbation, or puberty, about any sexual experiences they might have, or just about everything that piqued their interests.”
“To see the impact we made, by making the students empowered and confident in asking such questions, is what keeps us going.”
At Pratisandhi, we always believe, that education is power. We strive to impart the youth with accurate knowledge on sexual health so that they can make better, informed decisions.
Happy Teachers Day, from us to all and let’s take a moment to thank all the teachers who were on a quest to break stigmas before you even knew how to spell s-t-i-g-m-a-s.
If you want to join hands in shattering taboo together and be a supporter, consider donating. If you’d like to become a project partner or collaborate with us, please send us an email at collaborate.pratisandhi@gmail.com.
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