The Catholic Church in Kerala, which years ago made it mandatory for would-be brides and bridegrooms to attend pre-marital counselling and sex education classes, has gone a step further by introducing sex education into the catechism (religious teaching) curriculum.
The Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church launched ‘Enlight,’ the sex education initiative for eighth-grade catechism students within the archdiocese, a few months ago on an experimental basis. “The response from the children, their parents and the teachers has been so overwhelming that we have decided to make it a part of the curriculum,” Fr. Jimmy Poochakkatt, director of the Department of Catechism and Moral Education of the archdiocese, told The Hindu.
Catholic children in Kerala, from age 5, take religious lessons every Sunday after church, for 10 years. This catechism lessons are often called ‘Sunday school.’
“We plan to cover all the one lakh students—this will mean covering around 10,000 each year,” Fr. Poochakkat said. So far, more than 8,000 children have attended the ‘Enlight’ sessions held at a dozen places across the archdiocese.........
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