KOCHI: The private English-medium schools run by the members of the Kerala CBSE Schools Managements Association will only partially implement the Adolescence Education Programme (AEP), which aims to impart sex education and HIV awareness to teenagers.

The association, which claims a membership of more than 600 schools, decided at a meeting held here over the weekend to drop some "offensive" sections from the UNICEF-funded AEP's syllabus.

T.P.M. Ibrahim Khan, president of the association, told The Hindu that these sections might be okay in a European or American context, but not in India. "The AEP is a really good programme and is very useful," he said. "Only, some sections are out of tune with Indian traditions and Kerala culture."

Some of these offending sections included, he pointed out, a discussion on multiple sex partners and sex with elderly persons. Such portions would be chopped off. Some ideas such as group discussions in mixed classes of boys and girls were unnecessary and might lead to `complications.' Many teachers trained to handle the lessons had said that they were not comfortable with some of the sections.

However, Mr. Khan said the suggestion to have a question box for boys and girls to raise their confidential questions and doubts was very useful. Doctors or trained teachers could answer such questions, if necessary in one-to-one sessions.

He said the association had decided to supplement the AEP lessons with moral education lessons.

HIV prevention

The AEP, which has a strong focus on HIV prevention, is an initiative of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development and CBSE schools are one of the main agencies.

It aims to help adolescents to cope with physical, biological and emotional changes.

A background paper on the AEP says: "Adult Education is an intervention to impart accurate and adequate knowledge about the process of growing up with a focus on reproductive and sexual health in its biological, psychological and socio-cultural dimensions, emotional health and coping with life skills." Prevention of HIV infection and drug abuse is a key component. Coping with stress and peer pressure are also factored in.

Implementation

The CBSE has asked its affiliated schools to implement the AEP from April, though many schools have already launched it.

A number of teachers have been trained. Under the programme, ninth graders and eleventh graders would attend a certain number of hours' classroom discussions and question and answer sessions every month. It would not be part of the syllabus and there would not be any examinations.

Mr. Khan said his association had written to the CBSE about the decision of the school managements and making certain recommendations for running the programme smoothly. Kerala has the largest number of CBSE schools among all States, he pointed out.

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