Indian Express
RSS prevails, C’garh too bans sex course
Nitin Mahajan
Posted online: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 at 0000 hrs Print Email
Schools: Both states face opposition to Adolescent Education Programme over ‘objectionable material’ being used
RAIPUR, APRIL 2 : The Chhattisgarh government has decided to end its Adolescence Education Programme. Days after similar steps were initiated by neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and two years after it introduced the programme in Classes IX and XI, the Raman Singh government asked the Chhattisgarh State Council for Educational Research and Training to immediately stop sex education in state schools, while instructing the SCERT to find ways “compatible with Indian culture” to create AIDS awareness among students.
The decision to abandon sex education in schools was taken after senior RSS functionaries objected to the “explicit material” being used in the Adolescent Education Programme, forcing the Chief Minister to direct SCERT to remove “objectionable” material and photographs which “do not have a place in Indian culture”.
Senior SCERT officials involved in the development and implementation of the programme had tried to convince the Chief Minister about the merits of the programme, urging him not to abandon it. But Raman bowed to the RSS’s demands. “The SCERT has been told to remove graphic anatomical pictures from the kit meant for teachers,” an official, baffled by the government’s decision, said.
Incidentally the step to remove sex education from school curriculum comes even as the RSS lobby, which has been keen to remodel the education system, managed to include yoga in the state school curriculum recently.
Speaking to The Indian Express, SCERT Director Nand Kumar confirmed that the government had sought “remodelling” of the Adolescence Education Programme. “We have been asked to remove photographs which were deemed too explicit and replace these with sketches and find other ways to create AIDS awareness,” he said.
The Chief Minister has also asked the SCERT to make a presentation of the remodelled programme, after which a decision on the future of the programme would be taken.
The programme was introduced in the state two years back and under it, Classes IX, X and XI students were to be imparted sex education and told about AIDS. About 725 teachers were provided training by the National AIDS Control Organisation and Unicef for making children aware about AIDS, in a project which cost Rs 25 lakh and had been implemented in a majority of districts in the state.
The government’s move has been severely criticised by people behind the project. “Scrapping the programme is not the solution. We need to find ways in which a student can be taught about AIDS and given sex education that does not affect the cultural sensitivity prevalent in an area,” Joint Secretary, Council Of Boards of Secondary Education (COBSE), Puran Chand said.
He pointed out that a few months ago COBSE, a consultative and apex body of education boards in the country, had launched a package on adolescent education and requested each state government to implement it. “However, due to non-cooperation from various states we have not been able to integrate sex education in the syllabus,” he added, stating that only 17 of the member 41 boards had replied positively to COBSE's initiative.
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