This document summarizes the Adolescence Education Program in India. It began in the 1980s with a focus on population issues and family life education. The goal is to empower adolescents with accurate age-appropriate information to make positive decisions. It is implemented through sensitization training for principals and teachers in over 1,000 schools. Key activities include allocating curriculum hours, question boxes, and competitions. Challenges include linking different implementing agencies and overcoming perceptions that it is a lower priority subject. Overall the program aims to institutionalize adolescence education within the formal education system.

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Adolescence Education Program
Where is the Program Today
The Journey
Going Forward

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 National Population Education Project (NPEP) initiated in 1980 with focus on
Demographic Issues and Family Life Education
Support from UNFPA and Technical Assistance from UNESCO
 National Policy on Education 1986 (revised in 1992) identified NPEP as a thrust
area
 In 90s: Focus on ICPD Goals and two major thrust areas :
Population and Development Concerns and Adolescent Reproductive and
Sexual Health
 National Curriculum Framework (2005) recognized Adolescence Education as an
important area in school education
 In 2005, different government initiatives on Adolescence Education were
harmonized by the Ministry of Human Resource Development under the
umbrella of AEP
Evolution of Adolescence
Education Program

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Reaching Young People in Educational
Institutions
NCERT
Coordination &
Monitoring

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To empower young people with accurate, age
appropriate and culturally relevant information,
promote healthy attitudes and develop skills to
enable them to respond to real life situations in
positive and responsible ways
Goal of Adolescence
Education

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Guiding Principles
• Recognize adolescents as a positive and valuable resource that needs to be
accepted, respected and appreciated rather than a problem
• Realize the transformational potential of education based on principles of
equity and social justice rather than coping and managing paradigm or a status-
quo orientation
• The program is participatory, process-oriented and non-judgmental, not
prescriptive, stigmatizing or fear inducing
• Strong focus on enhancement and application of life skills in real life
contexts rather than treating it as a knowledge domain
• Adolescence education aims to influence the entire school curriculum and
ethos, rather than being an isolated, stand-alone component.

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Themes
•Understanding Changes during Adolescence and Being Comfortable with
Them (including differences in the process of maturation and their effects
on body image)
•Establishing and Maintaining Positive and Responsible Relationships
•Understanding and Challenging Stereotypes and Discrimination Related
to Gender and Sexuality
•Understanding and Reporting Abuse and Violation
•Prevention of Substance Misuse: Causes, Access to safety net (protection
from substance misuse), Consequences, De-addiction, Care and Support
•Prevention of HIV and AIDS: Prevention, Vulnerability, Dealing with
Stigma, Access to Services, Linkages with RTIs/STIs

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Structures and Activities
Sensitization of school principals
Capacity building adopting cascade approach with system-specific
mentors/ resource persons who further orient nodal teachers
The key activities in the 2 national school systems (KVS and NVS) include:
 Allocation of 23 hours in school time table for transaction of learner-
centric participatory activities in classes 9, 10 and 11 (ages 14-16) by 2
nodal teachers
 Question box activity where student concerns are answered in an
anonymous manner
 Thematic school assemblies and events such as role plays, creative
writing, poster making and others based on students and teachers
imagination
 Peer facilitators (4 per school)

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• Integration of adolescent concerns, life skills and
participatory pedagogies in
• Text books in the formal school systems
• In selected scholastic subjects through the National
Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) at secondary level
Structures and Activities

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Teachers Training
National Role Play/
Folk Dance
Competition
Activities organized in
more than 481 Districts

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Structures and Activities
•An online resource centre on different
aspects of adolescent health and well
being, also supports an electronic
discussion forum for teachers
(www.aeparc.org).
Launched in June 2014.
•Online reporting by individual schools
operationalized for academic year,
April 2014-March 2015

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Key Milestones
• Recognized as an important area in school education in Education Policy
(1986), National Curriculum Framework (2005) and the upcoming
Education Policy.
• Continuous engagement of schooling systems (adolescents, teachers and
principals) , civil society, academic institutions and independent experts
led to revisions in
• Conceptual framework:2009
• Guiding principles of AEP: 2010
• Curriculum that integrates concerns related to health and well being
of young people including RSH across all stages of school
curriculum: 2010

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Current Status
• AEP implementation in all 1120 KVs and 590 JNVs with
approximately 700 master trainers and 3400 trained teachers
(2/school)
• Online MIS with quarterly reporting functional
• Commitment for:
• 23 hours in the school time table in both KVs and JNVs
• Opportunities for including AEP issues in existing principals’
sensitization and induction and in-service training of teachers in the
2 school systems
• Support for mentorship programme through which a school-system
specific master trainer is assigned 4 additional schools for providing
oversight and quality checks to AEP through monthly phone
calls/skype and at least one visit to each of the 4 schools in an
academic year on official duty

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Opportunities for Institutionalization
and Scaling Up
• International evidence supports implementation of contextualized comprehensive
sexuality education programs
• Young people recognized as an important resource; hence, ongoing political
engagement
• In tandem with the current discourse on educational reforms related to learner-
centric pedagogies and real life connect
• Majority of adolescence education initiatives in partnership with Government
school systems
• Consensus on initiating the program in upper primary classes
• Concurrence for institutionalization within the education system with
o Inclusion in school time table
o Willingness to allocate time and resources for induction and in-service training
of teachers
o Integration in self learning materials of open school

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For Institutionalization and
Scaling Up: Enhanced Focus on
•Sensitization of officials in the Department of Education at all levels
•Creating opportunities for continued learning
oInclusion in induction and in-service training
oEncourage learning and exchange among neighborhood schools
oWeb-based learning
oDistance learning opportunities and certification
• Monitoring and supportive supervision
oIntegration in regular planning and review mechanisms
oFocus on reviewing processes rather than numbers
oPerformance linked recognition by the system (certification, increments)
•Meaningful involvement of parents
•Advocacy with media

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Challenges in
Institutionalization and Scaling Up
• Duplication in the roles of different implementing agencies and
insufficient linkages between departments of Education and Health
• Adolescence education often seen as sub-ordinate to more ‘cognitive’
subjects
• Imbued with moral values and judgments
• Necessitates curricular change and enhancing knowledge and skills to
transact effectively
• Expand in a phased manner with better quality control vs. reaching
everyone
• Building in elements of AE in formal school assessments
• Resource allocation

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