Parliamentary committee seeks public opinion on sex education

Sex education came out of the closet in Chennai with a parliamentary committee seeking the publics views.

Chennai, Oct 24 : Sex education came out of the closet in Chennai with a parliamentary committee seeking the public's views.

The Committee on Petitions, which is chaired by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader M Venkaiah Naidu, interacted with social groups to determine the best way of impart sex education.

"The purpose is to elicit the views of teachers, management, students, and also the general public. We as a committee cannot express our views because the committee is made by the Parliament only to collect views under study and to make a recommendation to Parliament. Then Parliament will discuss it and the government will formulate the future programme," said Naidu.

The Central Government has in principle decided to impart an Adolescence Education Programme (AEP) for students of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools.

Committee members also visited some schools to acquire first hand information on the implementation of AEP.

The committee took note of suggestions given by individuals and voluntary groups on sex education.

Most students who participated in the interaction, advocated the running of Adolescence Education Programme in schools.

"This is a part of our curriculum. We understand better when the teacher delivers notes in such manner," said N. Kaushik, a student.

The ten member committee would review the AEP and submit a report to the Parliament within 15 days.

Earlier this year, objections were raised over the introduction of sex education in schools across the country.

India has the world's highest caseload of HIV cases at about 5.7 million, a figure experts say may balloon to over 20 million by 2010.

Governments of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have banned sex education in public schools, saying the learning modules are too explicit.

Kerala and Karnataka -- considered among the country's most progressive states due to their high literacy rates -- are also considering bans.

The government has been unable to stop these bans even as it seeks to curb the spread of HIV.

In India, about 86 percent of HIV infections occur through sexual intercourse, one key reason being that migrant workers in cities visit prostitutes and infect their wives when they return home.

ANI