Gyanendra kumar Rout
The aim of the paper is to give
visibility to the adolescent as
a crucial segment of the population within policy framework and programmatic
efforts existing in India. It provided a review of the status of the policy and
programme implementation as well as the role of the UN System. The present
document accordingly, has attempted to include analysis of the current
situation of the adolescents, the capacity of existing national system to
provide interventions, as well as analytic assessment of policy and legal
provisions. The strategies for advocacy, capacity building and networking for
synergy within and across organizations/agencies can be mounted which would
help in evolving workable strategies to translate the provisions of the
recent Five Year Plan into concrete
actions both at policy and programme implementation levels. It is hoped that
the endeavour would contribute towards creating safer and supportive
environment for the holistic development of Indian adolescents in the new
millennium.
Introduction- In the life cycle of a homosapien organism, adolescence is a
period of transition from childhood to adulthood. It is characterized by rapid
physical, biological and hormonal changes resulting in to psychosocial,
behavioral and sexual maturation between the age of 10-19 years in an
individual. Adolescence is often described as a phase of life that begins in
biology and ends in society (Sharma 1996). It means that physical and
biological changes are universal and take place due to maturation but the
psychosocial and behavioral manifestations are determined by the meaning given
to these changes within a cultural system. The experience of adolescents during
teen years would vary considerably according to the cultural and social values
of the network of social identities they grow in. It is pertinent at this
juncture to raise the question- Has the period of ‘adolescence’ been
recognized universally having the same meaning? In reality, there are markedly
different notions of adolescence in different parts of the world. These stand
apart from western account of what does or should happen during this
transitional period between childhood and adulthood (Brown et al. 2002). The
evidence in literature from cross-cultural studies both supports and challenges
the hypothesis that adolescence is a difficult period in development. There are
cultures where adult status is granted to both boys and girls through
initiation rites at puberty, amounting to an abrupt transition from childhood
to adolescence and adulthood. But it clearly confers the adult identity on the
individual. However, it may be an extended period of transition in other
cultures. Socialization process, it is acknowledged plays an important role in
how inevitable biological changes are dealt with. There is little reliable date
on the relative influence on their lives of peers, family and community. But it
is essential that resources are provided to growing youngster through proper
policies, programme and counseling and guidance. Documented work related to
experience of young people, across the globe, indicates that the forms adolescence
takes within culture, let alone across cultures, are diverse and
distinctive. Still, one can certainly identify common features related to
biological, cognitive and psychological imperatives of human development.
Further, with the world becoming a global village through increased
communication has led to the emergence of world youth community, resulting
in to commonalities in interest of adolescents across cultures such as style of
dressing up, eating habits, music preferences and sexual explorations. However,
these commonalities get coloured, adapted and transformed to give different
meaning within a cultural system.There is therefore, a cautionary note for all
those who work with adolescents and youth may it be researchers, practitioners,
employers, policy makers and parents not to have a universalistic notion about
adolescence. Adolescence needs to be understood in historical and cultural
context and its variegated and tentative nature be acknowledged and appreciated
(Brown and Larson 2002). It is particularly significant when policies are
formulated and interventions are planned for adolescents to ensure their well
being with reference to a particular culture/country.
Adolescence: Indian Context- In contemporary India while adolescence
is a comparatively new term, the word youth is better known and has been
used at the levels of policy formulation and programming (Singh 1997).
However,
even the ancient text of Dharamashastra recognized the crucial nature of
adolescence and prescribed specific codes of conduct for the phase. These
codesare deeply rooted in the Indian psyche and continue to influence cultural
practices towards adolescents in a powerful manner (Verma and Saraswathi 2002).
To contextualize the cultural milieu, in which adolescents grow in India, the
relevant traditional cultural values and themes that shape and affect the
environment of adolescents during growing years need to be described. The family
universally is acknowledged as an institution of socialisation; however,
it plays a major role in the life of an Indian. Despite the fast pace of social
change, it continues to have a direct bearing on adolescents’’ development,
since most young people stay in family until adulthood or even later in the
case of joint family set-up.Most Indian families observe sacred ritualistic
ceremonies at various stages of life cycle (Kakar 1979, Saraswathi & Pai
1997). These are markers of progressive attainment of competencies both in
social and behavioural aspects of life. The onset of puberty is acknowledged by
the family and new code of conduct is prescribed both for boys and girls.
Onset and End of Adolescence- The interplay of
biological changes and social attitude will determine the psychological meaning
of puberty for its members. The common themes and
assumptions, which are relevant in this context, are: The onset of puberty
marks the beginning of adolescence. There are individual as well as cultural
differences in the length of adolescence and in the age of onset and
completion. While the physical changes of pubescence signal the beginning of
this phase. Sociological criteria such as achievement of adult status and
privileges, marriage, the end of education and the beginning of economic
independence frequently mark the termination of adolescence. The stage of
adolescence is likely to end earlier in primitive cultures an later in
technological ones. (Sharma1996 p 25)
Several
studies have indicated that parents rarely provide the desired support to
growing adolescents regarding biological and physiological changes as also the
meaning attached to these. Youth sexuality stands out as an important aspect
which is inadequalely understood; taboos to access information and lack of
counseling services make youngsters turn to peers and other sources of
information (Abraham & Deshpande 2001). We need to be aware that distorted
information has consequences related to exploitation, abuse, mental health
problems and risk of HIV/AIDS. Providing awareness services and strengthening
capabilities of institutions like family, community and school to act as
sources of correct information are thus important and need to be given
attention.
Varied Images of Indian Adolescents- Adolescents –include both boys and girls
but in Indian context these two have very different experiences during growing
years including adolescence, the cultural differences are vast with regard to
their conduct and are based on traditional adult roles stereotypes. Growing as
a female in India carries with it the connotation of Traditional Indian Texts and Adolesence.
In the traditional texts of the
Dharamashastra- which
prescribes the code of conduct for each stage of development, a crucial place
has been assigned to adolescence in the process of enculturation. The terms Kumara and Brahamchari that refer to the stage of celibacy and
apprenticeship/acquisition of knowledge especially describes period of
adolescence for young males from upper class (Verma and Sarswathi 2002). There
was interestingly no mention of young girls in that text. However, in Rasamangri cited by Randawa (1959),
an ancient text authored by Bhanu Datta a young girls has been referred to as sviya (the one who loves only her
husband ) and given three titles based on her age and experience. Mugdha (youthful and inexperienced), madhya (the adolescent) and pragalbha (the mature). This
classification seems so close to three stages of contemporary Adolescent
Psychology (pubescence /early adolescence (10-12 years), puberty/mid
adolescence (13-15 years), adolescence/late adolescence (16-19
years). ] inferior status, and lesser privileges-as
compared to a male child. It cuts across all social classes of the society and
through entire lifespan. For a girl, the onset of puberty implies more
restrictions on her movement, fewer interactions with boys and men, and more
active participation in household chores. Boys begin to exercise greater
freedom to move about, expected to seek educational and vocational
pursuits as a priority and to take adult
roles. Besides age old gender distinctions, there are many variations in the
current images of adolescent’s in India. The variations arise from factors such
as urban, rural and tribal residence, ethnicity and socio
economic levels of the family. Lifestyle of urban adolescents from upper
SES is quite different from that of middleclass and lower-class adolescents.
Former have access to private, good quality education and are influenced by
western ways of life style through travel and exposure; their preferences for
music, clothes and interaction with opposite sex are very close to the western
counter parts. On the surface there does not appear to be any gender
discrimination in the families of these adolescents but covertly they do exist.
Pursuing educational endeavours is encouraged both in upper and middle urban
class. Urban Adolescents from lower class have to struggle for survival and
grow in impoverished, disadvantaged environment making them vulnerable to
several risks. Malnutrition, risk of poor health, becoming victims of
antisocial activities, brewing and sale of illicit liquor, sex exploitation,
prostitution and drug peddling were reported threats for adolescents from slums
in a multi indicator survey (Khosla 1997).The picture of rural adolescents
is different; the disparity between boys and girls is even greater among them.
Less emphasis on formal education makes boys and girls participate in adult
activities at home and outside at an early age. The boys are expected to join
men in work to earn their living, may it be on a farm or a factory or a
traditional craft at home. The routine of a pre-adolescent/adolescent rural
girl is demanding-cleaning the house, cooking, washing, fetching water, bathing
younger siblings. Rural girls rarely pursue education beyond primary school
level. Early marriage as a trend is common even now, both for boys and girls in
rural India. The traditionalism and familialism are evident in various facets
of family life, both in rural and urban settings (Bhende 1994; Pathak 1994).
Parental involvement and control is high. Emotional interdependence among
family members, respect for elders and family solidarity are characteristics of
an Indian family. It has implications for social responsibilities of caring for
old parents, protecting sisters and providing support to other dependents as a
traditional duty, valued within the culture, and these values are emulated by
growing male adolescents. Adolescent girls are groomed to become good wives and
mothers having sacrifice, tolerance and dependences as an integral part of
their disposition. There is also a general acceptance of double standards for
males and females in matters related to premarital sex and selection of
marriage partners, with considerably more freedom for males (Uplaonkar 1995).
Indian Family in Transition- The rapidly changing social, political and
economical scenario in the world has not left Indian family untouched. It is
going through structural and functional modifications that have a bearing on
adolescent’s socialization and parent child relations. Weakening of social
support from kinship, movement of women empowerment, exposure to media,
increasing competitive demands of the market economy and higher standards of
achievement are a few aspects that have changed the family dynamics in the
recent past. The need for differential values, competencies and coping styles
between parents and adolescents are a source of anxiety and stress both for
adolescents and parents (Verma and Saraswathi 2002).The ambiguity of values
that adolescents observe in the adult world, the absence of powerful role
models, increasing gaps between aspirations and possible achievements, not
surprisingly, lead to alienation and identity diffusion (Sing & Sing 1996).
Parents themselves appear ill prepared to cope with social change, having grown
up in hierarchically structured and interlinked social and caste groups that
provided stability. The conflict between parents’ desire to help their
adolescent children cope with the changing demands of their own rootedness in tradition
expresses itself in the cold feet syndrome when things go wrong. Parents
who apparently seem modern, but if their child breaches established social
codes, intergenerational conflicts related to marriage, career choice, or
separate living arrangements result in the tendency to fall back on tradition
(Saraswathi & Pai 1997) Amidst all this turmoil, while the outward form of
family is changing, Indian family has the advantage of its heritage with well
defined value system related to social relations and prescriptions of the ideal
way of life. Adolescents across all sections of the society thus have a family
as an ‘anchor’ that supports them to cope with challenges of transition to
adulthood. Family as an institution in India therefore, has a potent role in
influencing adolescents. Capacity building of its members to provide timely
support and monitoring signs of dangers to save adolescents from slipping into risks
can be an important strategy/approach. Involvement of parents has increasingly
now been used in planned interventions of governmental and voluntary sectors.
Developmental Needs of Adolescents- Adolescence is marked as a period of growth
spurt and maturation, extent of physical growth is not
determined by genetic, heredity factors alone but also on availability of
adequate nutrition, micronutrients in the diet and access to health services.
Inadequate nutrition during adolescence can have serious consequences
throughout reproductive years and beyond. Extra nutritional requirements
include increased intake of calcium, iron, iodine, minerals and proteins. Unmet
nutritional needs lead to several public health problems such as stunted and
retarded growth,impaired mental development, anaemia, complications during
pregnancy and low birth weight babies.Adolescence is also a stage when young
people extend relationships beyond their parents and family. It is a time of
intense influence of peers, and the outside world in the society.
A desire to experiment and explore can manifest in a range of behaviours-exploring
sexual relationships, alcohol, tobacco and other substances abuse. The anxiety
and stress associated with achievement failure, lack of confidence etc are
likely to lead to depression, anger, violence and other mental health problems.
Adolescents as they mature cognitively, the mental functioning process
becomes analytic, capable of abstract thinking leading to articulation and
independent ideology. These are truly the years of creativity, empathy,
idealism and with bountiful spirit of adventure. Thus, if nurtured properly
youth can be mobilized to contribute significently to national development.
Overview of Research- Unmet needs during this critical period
have serious consequences not for the individual alone but for the family,
community, society and nation at large. The relevant empirical evidence in this
context reported here has implications both for policy and designing services.
The major source of these references is Adolescence in India an
annotated bibliography ‘compiled by Verma and Saraswathi (2002).
The
data available from the reviewed literature on physical growth, nutritional and
health status demonstrate that health scenario of a large proportion of
adolescents in India is plagued by undernutrition, anaemia, and infectious
diseases resulting from poor environmental sanitation and ignorance. While the
consequences of poverty do not spare the adolescent boys, the girls come
through as the endangered sex. In the absence of general overall socio-economic
development, availability of safe drinking water, environmental sanitation, and
better access to public health care, including control of recurrent viral,
bacterial, and parasitic infections, nutritional and dietary supplementation
are recommended in the review as strategic interventions to reverse the trends.
There
is a spate of work in the area of sexuality and reproductive health.
Much of this information relates to opinions taken from illiterate, as well as
school and college populations. Increase in the sexual activity, incidence of
STDs/HIV and clinical abortions among unmarried adolescents are reported
(Abramham, 2000). But we are confronted with is a mixed bag of problems related
to premarital and marital sex pertaining both to the largely rural and
predominantly illiterate group as well as the urban literate population.
Matters are further compounded by gender bias, myths and misconceptions
associated with sexuality and reproductive health among adolescents combined
with reluctance on part of the parents and schools to talk more freely about
sex (Awasthi and Pande 1998). Traditional beliefs regarding families role in
selection of life partner with preference for arranged marriages among both
rural and urban youth, and more conservatism regarding girls’ sexual behaviour
and marriage is expressed by both young men and women (Abraham 2000; Uplaonkar
1995; Desai 1993). It is evident that fertility control through stringent
implementation of the legal age for marriage, nutrition and sex education, and protection
of unmarried adolescent girls, demand urgent attention. Even though there is
now a large body of information on sexuality, there is uneven coverage of
studies on adolescents out of school as well as on the street related to their
sexual practices (Pandey
2000; PANOS 1999).
Adolescence: A Critical Phase
•
Raising knowledge and awareness, to recognize adolescence as a time of opportunity
and risk.
• Building a concencus to designate 10-19
years as the period of adolescence for policy and programme planning.
• Acknowledging that problems faced by
adolescents have common roots and are interrelated.
•
Appreciating that all adolescents are not equally vulnerable.
• Recognizing the role of socio cultural
and environmental variables on the development and profile of adolescents.
•
Accepting that gender differences are fundamental in the Indian context.
• Understanding the crucial role of family
in shaping lives of the adolescents.
Situational Analysis
The priority areas for action
are:
• Reduction in levels of poverty as large
number of adolescents are raised in impoverished conditions (BPL 26% - 1999)
• Checking adverse sex ratios, ensuring
equality for females in all spheres of life across life cycle stages.
• Reduction
in fertility.
• Reduction
in mortality and morbidity rates of adolescents and women.
• Raising age at marriage, through advocacy,
education and enforcement of Child Restraint Marriage Act.
• Reduction in prevalence of malnutrition
and micro nutrients deficiencies, particularly anemia amongst girls and women
(55%).
• Universalization of literacy, raising
levels of education, creating provisions of vocational education and
employment. Bridging gender disparities.
• Making Population Education available
through school system at all levels and non formal education programmes.
• Improving quality of education for
achieving Minimum Levels of Learning.
• Promoting access to health services and
counseling services for safe and protected sex to all adolescents.
• Abating
violence and sex abuse of girls/boys.
• Controlling
trafficking of young girls/children.
• Protecting adolescents in difficult
circumstances, law. Provision of appropriate services for these groups need to
be expanded.
Policy Framework and
Designing of Interventions-Analyses of the existing policies and
interventions have pointed to the need of making policies more supportive and
interventions more comprehensive. Some of the guiding principles that have
emerged from the review are presented here. These may be considered by policy
makers and other stake holders in bringing changes in the existing policies and
programmes or while formulating new ones to meet the specific needs of the
adolescents.
Policy Framework
• Adolescents (10-19 years) to be
recognized as a priority target group and
reflected as such in the national programmes.
• Building of a strong political
commitment to ensure wellbeing of adolescents
• Advocacy to promote partnership amongst
stakeholders to share this responsibility jointly to synergies the impact of
the interventions targeted at
adolescents.
• A separate national policy on
adolescents may be enacted to address interrelated and holistic needs of
adolescents, with multisectoral approach instead of sect oral, catering only to
one set of needs at a time.
• There is a need to have a nodal
department in the Government to plan, implement, monitor and coordinate
endeavours related to adolescents.
• Generating relevant data base /
information at the national level relating to adolescents, having uniformity in
categorization of age groups (10-15, 16-19). Data sets be disaggregated by sex,
rural, urban and tribal groups
to
meet their diverse needs.
• To base policies on current knowledge
and scientific evidence • Empirical research related to crucial aspects of
adolescents should be undertaken to understand the role of conditions/factors
influencing development of adolescents in India. The research evidence would
facilitate formulation of realistic policies and need based programmes
interventions..
• Policies need to be sensitive to the
cultural and local traditional values accordingly, flexibility may be a built
in for implementation.
• Participation of youth in policy framing
can go a along way in making it sensitive to the felt needs. This is a well
proven strategy for sustainability of projects.
•
Gender dimension s to form an integral part of the policies to deal with age
old discrimination. Empowerment of adolescent girls and women be aimed at.
•
The rights approach be honoured in policy formulation and provisions
should be made in line with Articles of CRC(Convention on the Rights of the
Child ), CEDAW(Center for Education and
Discrimination Against Women) and ICPD (International Conference on
Population and Development)directly relevant to survival, development and participation
of adolescents.
Programmes and Interventions
•
Increasing access to services and expanding these for universal coverage.
• Integrated Programmes to be designed at
the community level with assessment of the felt needs of adolescents and
involving them in planning the same. The components of the programmes depending
on its objectives may vary from project to project, however, the essential
service in the context of adolescents are:
Services
•
Counseling and Friendly Clinical Services
• Adolescents Health Services
•
Reproductive and Sexual Health Education • Formal Education
•
Non-Formal Education • Adult Education
•
Adolescents Health Education
-
Nutrition and Reproductive Health -
Psychological and Mental Health
•
Vocational Education • Value Education and Life Skills
•
Technical Education •
Information and Computers Technology.
Recreation
•
Sports and Games • Music and Dance • Arts and Crafts
• Reproductive Health and Reproductive
Rights are two crucial aspects of interventions for of adolescent due to
their age specific needs. These require provision of population education as
an integral part of the curricula of the educational system. Inter vention
programmes meant for out of school adolescents should essentially include this
components. • Special care needs to be taken to respond to the gender
differential needs in the interventions (boys/men, girls/women).
•
The staff and personnel working for programmes of adolescents be
oriented and trained to respond to the special needs of the age group
with
the desired sensitivity.
• System of monitoring needs to be
evolved for programmes/interventions to ensure effective and efficient delivery
of services Community members may also participate in the process and give
periodic feed back.
• Evaluation of Projects/Interventions need
to be carried out to learn lessons for improving implementation and impact.
•
Documentation of best practices and their dissemination to be encouraged.
•
Knowledge related to effective project management be built.
• Alternative service/intervention models
be evolved to serve adolescents in different settings.
Legal Frame Work
• Priority action to review existing
legislations relevant to adolescents, these may be reorient in line with
provisions in the Articles of CRC and CEDAW.
•
Strengthening enforcement machinery for speedy redressal of grievances and
cases.
• Promoting legal literacy and making
adolescents and society aware of their rights and legal entitlements.
• Making legal/legislative system gender
sensitive &responsive to adolescents needs.
Conclusion-
We must therefore, strive to create an environment where the young
can enjoy trusting relationships with their families as well as adults in their
community.A world where no young person will grow up neglected, abused or
uncared for. A world without violence and misery. Where the young can grow up
strong and physically and mentally healthy as confident and balance
individuals, working together to promote harmony between peoples and nations.
The future looks promising for adolescents and youth. The challenges are there
but the potential is far greater. Everyone must work together to harness it for
the greater good of all. Such an effort will enable young people to be healthy
and creative, and to shoulder the responsibilities demanded of them in 21st
century.
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Dr.Gyanendra
kumar Rout
Assistant
Professor (Education)
Govt.
Degree College, Rikhnikhal
Pauri Garhwal,
Uttarakhand
