Karnataka dumps sex education, to introduce moral education

Dumping the Federal Government’s proposal to impart sex education in schools, the Karnataka Government is planning to introduce moral education in schools from the coming academic year.

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy made it clear that the Government was against introduction of sex education as a subject in schools as it would not be in the interests of young students. “My Government is totally against imparting sex education. It does not go well with our country’s culture and traditions”, he told reporters in Bangalore.

Maintaining that his Government was against aping Western culture in school syllabus, Kumaraswamy regretted that the Federal Government had been influenced by an UNESCO report in the matter. “Our state is not a foreign country”, he remarked.

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti said the Government would introduce moral education in schools from June this year.

Horatti was speaking to reporters after addressing a meeting of social activists, representatives of NGOs in the educational field and medical experts to discuss the proposal on sex education.

A majority of the participants of the meeting stoutly opposed the idea of introducing sex education in schools. Veenadhari, an NGO activist engaged in creating awareness on AIDS ridiculed the proposal and said “AIDS control programme is the need of the hour for truck drivers and migrant labourers and not for school children”.