For the HRD minister, one word and its derivates cannot be allowed in sex education – the word ‘sex’.
The word is such a taboo that the HRD ministry forced an expert panel to shorten a recommendation of lessons against unprotected sex down to one sentence to avoid using of “sex” and “sexual”, The Telegraph reported.
They said that words like ‘sex’ or ‘sexual’ could not be allowed and the section had to be condensed into just one sentence.A source told The Telegraph
The panel’s original draft included half a page on misguided knowledge on unprotected sex and the adolescent youths’ vulnerability to sexually-transmitted diseases.
The section in the 220-page long policy document now reads: “The Adolescent Education Programme and National Population Education Programme need to be extended to all schools as early as possible.”
A panel member told The Telegraph that the expert panel agreed with the ministry’s advice because it agreed that the word “‘sexual’ might offend somebody.” It wasn’t made clear who specifically would be offended by the document which would be sent to state government schools and school boards.
We did not make it an issue because the policy’s focus was not on adolescent education: it’s a broad document on the entire subject of education.
The final document does use the word sex but only to define biological identities –man and woman.
(Source: The Telegraph)
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