I am a 16-year-old student from India in Grade 12. Like most of my peers, nobody ever sat me down and explained what a hormone actually is, or why my body was doing what it was doing, or which symptoms were normal and which ones weren't. What I know about PCOS, thyroid disorders, insulin resistance, I picked up from late-night Google searches and friends who knew just as little as I did. That's part of why I started Project GENE. And nearly every student I've interviewed since has said some version of the same thing — nobody told them either, until it was too late.  This petition is for every student who doesn't have access to that knowledge. That's most of us.

The Problem

Every day, students across India navigate puberty, mood swings, unexplained weight changes, irregular periods, fatigue, and anxiety, with almost no formal education to help them understand why. They turn to the internet, to friends, or to silence.

Meanwhile, India has one of the highest rates of thyroid disorders in the world. PCOS affects an estimated 1 in 10 Indian women, and many are diagnosed years after symptoms first appear. Type 2 diabetes is increasingly being detected in adolescents. These conditions don't appear overnight, they develop across the very years our children spend in school, largely unrecognized because no one taught them what to look for.

This is not a curriculum problem. It is a priority problem.

We are asking for a dedicated 3–5 day Hormonal Health Awareness Programme, delivered within school hours, for all students in Grades 5 through 12, recurring annually, much like schools already run health camps, career orientation days, or anti-drug awareness programmes.

This programme would cover:

• What hormones are and how they regulate the body
• Puberty and developmental changes, taught age-appropriately by grade
• The role of hormones in mood, sleep, metabolism, and mental health
• Common hormonal conditions — PCOS, thyroid disorders, diabetes, adrenal issues — their early signs and when to seek help
• The impact of nutrition, sleep, and lifestyle on hormonal balance
• Endocrine-disrupting chemicals and everyday environmental exposure

Why Now

In 2025, the European Society of Endocrinology launched the first-ever World Hormone Day on April 24, a global campaign that reached an estimated 136 million people across 40 countries, because the international medical community has recognized that hormonal literacy is a public health issue, not a personal one.

India has the medical expertise, the public health infrastructure, and the urgent need. What's missing is the political will to bring this into schools.

This Is Not Taboo. This Is Biology.

Coming from a conservative background, I understand the hesitation. Talking about bodies,  especially in mixed classrooms, especially in India,  feels uncomfortable to many. But discomfort is not a reason to leave students uninformed. We already teach children about the heart, the lungs, the digestive system. Hormones are no different. They are science, not scandal.

What is actually harmful is a 15-year-old who doesn't recognize that her exhaustion and irregular cycles might be her thyroid. Or a boy who thinks his mood crashes are just weakness. Or a young person who gets a diagnosis years too late because nobody gave them the language to ask the right questions.

What We're Asking the Government to Do

• Direct all schools, CBSE, ICSE, and State Board, to conduct an annual 3–5 day Hormonal Health Awareness Programme for Grades 5–12
• Develop age-appropriate, medically accurate, gender-inclusive programme materials in all regional languages
• Partner with endocrinologists, paediatricians, and public health bodies to design the programme content
• Empower schools to invite trained health educators and medical professionals as programme facilitators

Sign This Petition

If you believe that every Indian student deserves to understand their own body, please sign and share. A healthier, more informed generation starts with one week in school.

#BecauseHormonesMatter