Tamil Nadu   

A feat State can be proud of

Ramya Kannan

A world record was created when 2,97,627 students participated in Challenge 2006

Symbol of the Tamil Nadu Aids Control Society

CHENNAI: After notching up several notorious firsts in the HIV/AIDS sector, Tamil Nadu finally has a record it can be proud of.

The Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS), the nodal unit co-ordinating HIV/AIDS intervention in the State, has set a record for the largest participation of students in an awareness campaign.

The Limca Book of Records has attested that a world record was created when 2,97,627 students from across six districts of Tamil Nadu participated in Challenge 2006, a State-level interschool HIV/AIDS awareness contest.

The programme conducted by TANSACS was supported by the Directorate of Teacher Education Research and Training and organised by Society and You, a network of youth based in Coimbatore. It was part of various initiatives launched by the Society to spread awareness among the youth. The State probably boasts of the largest school AIDS education programme, covering over 9,000 schools and 18 lakh students.

Challenge 2006 was held between February 6 and 20 as a series of contests — quiz and essay writing competitions in Tamil and English — revolving around the epidemic and awareness. Winners were given prizes. Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai, Tiruchi, Erode and Tirunelveli were the districts chosen to participate in Challenge 2006, sources in TANSACS said.

In preparation, over 390 voluntary organisations were selected to take the programme to private and government schools. Only schools that consented to participate were involved. Nobody was coerced, the sources said. The volunteers and organisers were given orientation in HIV/AIDS related concepts, information they would later convey to students. About 750 organisations were involved in evaluating the students' performance in the competitions. The earlier record for such a mass awareness creation drive is billed to a consumer awareness programme held in New Delhi, involving 1,99,863 persons.

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