Taking exception to the Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to ban sex education in schools, the Central government has urged the state to re-consider its decision.
“The sex education curriculum has been drawn up after extensive consultations with specialists and is meant to combat the growing sexual perversions and incidence of AIDS in the country. It would not be prudent to abandon this programme”, Union Health minister Anbumani Ramdoss has said in a letter addressed to the chief minister.
The state government had decided to ban the 20-hour sex education programme for class XII students saying that it was against Bharatiya sanskriti.
Christened “life-skills education”, 4 hours of the programme are devoted to AIDS and the portion includes some nude pictures and a few graphic representations.“We are in favour of implementing educational programmes that are in sync with the socio-cultural environment of the state. The sex education programme does not meet this criterion,” a senior functionary of the state school education department said.
The state government has constituted a committee headed by the Commissioner of school education for a re-appraisal of the issue.
However, sources say, it is unlikely to revoke the ban.