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Move to introduce sex education in school curriculum opposed

Correspondent

Students, youth and women stage demo in front of the office of the BSE

CUTTACK: Hundreds of students, youth and women staged a demonstration in front of the State Board of Secondary Education (BSE) office here on Saturday to protest against the government's effort to introduce `sex education' in school curriculum.

Slogan-shouting activists of the All India Democratic Students' Organisation, All India Democratic Youth Organisation and All India Mahila Sanskrutika Samiti came in a rally and submitted a memorandum to BSE authorities demanding withdrawal of the controversial chapter on `adolescence' from an optional subject for Class IX students.

These organisations had earlier brought to the fore about the "terrorist" tag attached to legendary freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad and others in the Social Studies book prescribed for Class X students.

The BSE, which conducts the matriculation examination in the State besides preparing textbooks for the school, was forced to delete the controversial paragraph. "Respecting the sentiments of the public, we have deleted the controversial paragraph from the book and the teachers have been asked not to teach that portion to the students," said BSE Secretary Minaketan Pani.

However, on the contentious issue of sex education, the BSE authorities appeared very defensive in their approach. Though the authorities withdrew a similar chapter from the Class IX science syllabus following massive public outcry last year, efforts were made to reintroduce the same from next academic year after making some changes in the content, Mr. Pani said.

Firm stance

Claiming that the present chapter on adolescence in the optional subject of Environment and Population did not have anything vulgar in it, he said the same would be taught in classes to educate students on the deadly effects of HIV and AIDS.

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