Sex education on hold in Maharashtra, teachers fume

SEX ED OR NOT? Educationists feel the course is a must, but parents are concerned about the content.

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Mumbai: Members of the Maharashtra assembly have firmly opposed the proposal to introduce sex education in schools yet again.

While educationists feel the course is necessary, parents are more concerned about its content.

In a rerun of the drama last year, members of the Assembly, cutting across party lines forced a stay on the proposal to introduce compulsory sex education in schools and junior colleges.

Vasant Purke, the state school education minister had on Tuesday made the proposal in the council. But his suggestion has encountered a storm of opposition.

“Sex education is against our culture,” said BJP MLA, Mangal Prabhat Lodha.

“This is a method to sway teachers and to inflict cruelty on students,” said Shiv Sena MLA, Shobha Phadnavis.

Parents had also raised concerns about how it was going to be implemented especially since last year, many felt the CBSE textbooks prescribed for the subject were too graphic in nature.

“It should in no way promote sexual promiscuity or show them that they have more sexual freedom,” a parent, Priya Aggarwal, said.

The government’s decision, though, has disappointed many educationists and teachers who feel that students need to be educated about sex through the right channels.

“They're exposed to so many things. It's much better they learn the right things and not wrong stuff from their peers,” Christ Church School’s principal, Carl Laurie pointed out.

Possibly, the issue can only be resolved when the law-makers decide what exactly is the mid-way point between too much information and no information at all.

With inputs from Ravi Ambekar