Factors Affecting Family Life Education and Its Quality among Unmarried Women aged 15-24 years in India

In India, low female age at marriage, early childbearing initiation, high infant and maternal mortality are the major barriers in attaining the MDGs. Thus, family life education (FLE) that includes basic understanding of human reproduction, sex education, contraceptive knowledge and women's rights is a necessary condition to meet the goals. This paper attempts to examine the level, source of receiving FLE among unmarried women aged 15-24 and factors affecting its access and quality in India. The information available on FLE from 1,66,260 unmarried women (15-24) in the nationwide district level household survey (2007-08) have been analysed. At all India level 73% of unmarried women are aware of FLE and 49% ever received FLE. The minimum 10 years of formal education increases the odds of receiving FLE by six folds in India. Above half of the respondents reported that they felt embarrassed in the sessions of FLE irrespective to the sources. Implementation of govt. prog. significantly increases the likelihood of having FLE. Those who received FLE are rated significantly high on the index of contraceptive and SRH knowledge. 28% of unmarried women expressed their desire to receive FLE only from their family members. Thus, this study also recommends to involving these stakeholders in the culturally suited community FLE programmes.