The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Network to be formed to serve the HIV-affected

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Sunday, Sep 02, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Network to be formed to serve the HIV-affected

Staff Reporter

Collector stresses significance of sex education

— Photo: G. Moorthy

Appreciation: Collector S.S. Jawahar distributing certificate and cash award to a winner in Madurai on Friday.

MADURAI: The district administration was taking steps to form a network of HIV-affected, HIV-infected and non-governmental organisations working in the field within two months, said Collector S. S. Jawahar here on Friday.

Addressing the State-level Red Ribbon Clubs prize distribution function, the Collector said that the network would help the administration collect the exact figures of the affected and infected people in the district and extend necessary help, including educational and financial support, to them.

Life skills taught

Stressing the importance of sex education, the Collector said that youth, especially the adolescents, often fell victim to bad habits as they were misled by wrong information. Life skills taught in Red Ribbon Clubs would put a check on the wandering mind, he said.

Mr. Jawahar recalled that schools had literary and science clubs to create literary minds and induce scientific temper and now Red Ribbon Clubs taught life skills to lead a safe and a healthy life.

P. Perumalsamy, Director, Teacher Education, Research and Training (DTERT), said that in Tamil Nadu one-and-a-half-lakh people were living with HIV out of 25-30 lakh HIV-infected people in the country. As 50 per cent of the newly infected people belonged to the age group of 15 to 24 years, the Red Ribbon Clubs had targeted students in the adolescent age group, especially those in IX and XI Standards.

He said that 15 lakh students in 9,772 high and higher secondary schools benefited from the Adolescence Education Programme that helped students to nurture life skills in 16 sessions.

The 16 sessions would have modules like personal hygiene, diseases and disease control, body image and self esteem, inter-personal relationship, sexually transmitted diseases, consequences of vulnerable behaviour, HIV/AIDS, coping with emotions etc.

Competitions

Mr. Perumalsamy said that the UNICEF encouraged volunteers of RRC to organise drama, elocution and painting competitions.

The State-level RRC contests were organised at St. Teresa Teacher Training Institute with the support extended by Sai Jothi Teacher Training Institute on Thursday.

As many as 228 students from 29 District Institutes of Education and Training and nine Government Teacher Training Institutes participated.

K. Devarajan, Joint Director, Teacher Education, Research and Training, Sudhakar, State Co-ordinator, Red Ribbon Clubs, Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society, and Dev Asish Dutta, Project Officer, UNICEF, spoke.

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