Even as debates on appropriateness of sex education in school rage on, the school-going youths of Gwallek VDC in Baitadi not only talk sex among themselves but also educate their parents about the birds and the bees. The number of couples in Gwallek, and neighbouring Nagarjun, Basantapur, Dehimandu and Bhumeshwor VDCs, going for family planning and health checkup has witnessed a sharp increase since the children jumped into the fray. The Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) had started sex and reproductive health programme at Joshibunga Secondary School at Gwallek and Kedar Nagarjun Higher Secondary School at Nagarjun with the belief that children are highly effective in imparting sex education.

The huge popularity of FPAN initiative among villagers is a testament to its usefulness. Such programmes are, of course, controversial. Many Nepalis, especially those belonging to the relatively older generation, knit their eyebrows at the idea of sex education for the young ones. But it is hard to refute the fact that it is so much better for the youth to get sex education from those in the know instead of peer groups that are ill-equipped for the delicate task. Controversies should not debar the concerned government authorities and the society at large from imparting the youth with right education at the right time.