Sex education should always be more about an open dialogue than just biology and diagrams of reproductive organs. Any conversation about a young woman’s sexual agency in rural India is loaded with social and cultural subtext. One of the biggest hurdles in normalising sex education in schools is the anxiety that it will lead young girls astray and put them in harm’s way. And yet, the same belief system actually endangers their future and reproductive health by pushing them into early marriages without a second thought. A 50 per cent rise was recorded in the cases of child marriages in 2020 over the previous year if you go by recent NCRB data.
M.K. Padma Kumar is involved in developing strategies and managing operations for the IPE Global Group.
He has over 25 years of experience in the development sector, working in civil society organisations and international development agencies like DANIDA and DFID. As the Head of State Partnerships at the DFID India, he was responsible for developing partnerships, programme design, management and strategic oversight of all programmes implemented in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. He has managed various development programmes. His expertise lies in driving operational, financial and programmatic transformations. Before DFID, he was associated with Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Help Age and World Wildlife Fund.
He holds a Master’s degree in Business Management with specialisation in Human Resource Management and Finance. He is extensively trained in Project Cycle Management, Grant Management, Performance Management, Leadership Skills and Change Management.
