"I was in class seven and taking part in the annual sports competition of our school. All on a sudden, I found my personal attire choked with blood. As I had no idea about menstruation, I got nervous and was crying under a tree," recalls NGO worker Tamanna Tabassum.

She goes on: "Then I got back home, but could not tell my mom what happened. I have no elder sister either. It was really a bad experience for me."

Syeda Akhter Millie (not her real name) works for a newspaper in Khulna. She says she experienced the first menstruation at the age of 16, a bit later than the usual time. Millie did not have adequate knowledge about it, and the elders of the house were not well aware about hygiene matters. Therefore, she had to use unhygienic old clothes.

Millie says, "We had a maidservant, who was a little bit older than me. And she was the first to teach me about periods. To be honest, she actually did more harm than good, causing a long illness to me."

There is nothing new in Millie and Tamanna's cases. Many adolescent girls are suffering for lack of sex education. Adolescent boys are no exception. They also suffer from similar problems due to lack of education. Taposi Saha (this name has also been changed to protect privacy) is a government primary school teacher. She says there is hardly any woman who was not subject to abuse or harassment either in a crowd or a fair or somewhere else. Lack of moral values and proper education among a section of men are blamed for the situation. Teaching about sex in educational institutions is essential in addition to discussion about it at the family level. Mahbuba Sultana Moni, a BBA student at a private university, says: "Actually, our whole curriculum appears to be incomplete. Counselling on sex education is necessary both in families and educational institutions. For example, when advertisements about AIDS, condoms, contraceptives and sanitary napkins are shown on TV we tend to change the channel. We simply forget those advertisements and hardly talk about physical relationship." She further says many of her friends at class ten got attracted to adult films and porno magazines just out of curiosity. If a little bit about physical relationship is taught in schools, the distorted inquisitiveness might recede. It will be easier to accept sex issue if awareness is increased.

"Including sex education in school curricula is not enough. It has to be taught," says NGO worker Dina Afroz. "In class eight, there was a chapter on menstruation. Our teachers used to tell us to study that at home." Jharnamoni of Daily Bhorer Kagoj, writer Sebika Debnath and MA student Nurnaher Shanta are also of the same opinion.

Nadira Begum, assistant head teacher of Agrani School and College, also acknowledges that. She says, "Our teachers don't feel comfortable to teach sex education as such an environment has not created yet for such teaching. And we can't be easy with the students."

Emphasising the need for teaching sex education in rural schools, she says it is necessary to include sex education in textbooks more elaborately. Arranging training for teachers on this is also important.

Keya Bala, a teacher of Geography at Government Kabi Nazrul Islam College, says, "Both girls and boys of the 12-13 age group could be taught sex education. The families must come forward in this regard. The issue of sex education should be made compulsory for all SSC and HSC students."

Prof Atiqur Rahman of Dhaka University says many untoward incidents take place in the country's educational institutions for lack of sex education. "In our society, there is a tendency to keep things secret, which creates a lot of problems."

Stressing the importance of sex education from class six to HSC, he says, "While including the subject in textbooks, we'll have to keep in mind the issues like our culture and religions. The subject of sex education should be women-friendly. It must provide both girls and boys a clear idea about modern reproductive health."

According to experts, most families, in the country are not yet ready to talk about sex with girls and boys. And that has been a problem for the youngsters. There should be a concerted effort to make elders understand that frank discussions about it will in fact do their kids a big favour.

They will be able to take the right decision. They say the inclusion of sex education in school curricula is a must. Students in our country are obedient to their teachers. Therefore, if the teachers teach them properly, the students will be knowledgeable about it which will ultimately help them lead a good life both physically and mentally.

They also emphasise involving specialists in reformulating the school curricula to have a better result.