Karnataka - Bangalore   

Let us first teach family welfare, says Minister

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: A seminar organised by the Karnataka Women's Commission here on Friday, meant to provide a forum for debate on the proposed introduction of sex education in schools in the State, turned into a moral tirade against the very idea of sex education.

Minister for Science and Technology Ramachandra Gowda set the tone by stating that no "natural process" needed any special education. "Who, after all, taught us to breathe?" he asked. Indian culture had its own "science of sex" in a document like Vatsyayana's "Kamasutra" and "those who felt the need for education" could read it, he said. Schools in India, said Mr. Gowda, need "family welfare" education rather than sex education. "Morality has gone down and needs to be protected," he said. He suggested that this idea should be debated with religious heads and educational experts.

The idea of a family welfare education was endorsed by many, including Bharati Setty of BJP Mahila Morcha, Alaka Inamdar of Rashtra Sevika Samiti, Rukmini of Rashtriya Swayamsevika Sangha and Vijayalakshmi Balekundri, a doctor.

Ms. Setty said that adopting sex education in schools was like "picking up what has been tested and discarded by the west". Ms. Rukmini said that Brahmacharya was a phase when children should concentrate on studies. Ms. Balenkundri said the proposed material had little information on AIDS. Parts of it read like "advertisement for condom company," she added.

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