The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘Adolescent education in private schools from this year’

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Thursday, Nov 27, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘Adolescent education in private schools from this year’

Staff Reporter

Adolescent education made part of the high school curriculum
Class X students will get questions for five marks in their final exams

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh tops of HIV/AIDS prevention activities in the country, thanks to participation of different sections of society in the drive, claims Project Director of A.P. State Aids Control Society (APSACS), R.V. Chandravadan.

He inaugurated the advocacy meeting with Private Schools’ Associations of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts conducted by APSACS and State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) here on Wednesday. Representatives of 24 private schools’ associations covering 1,500 schools participated in the meet.

Access to information

Mr. Chandravadan said that Adolescent Education Programme was successfully implemented in government schools last year and same would be extended to private and unaided schools this year. “Children these days can access any information they want, thanks to Internet and direct-to-home satellite channels.

It is important to educate them through proper methods so that they could develop a responsible sexual behaviour,” he said.

“Adolescent education was made part of the high school curriculum and Class X students will get questions for five marks from this component in their final exams,” said R. Jesupadam, the Director of SCERT. The government schools were given schedule from December 1 to 5 to teach the programme to students of Class VIII, IX and X.

UNICEF Representative Sudha Balakrishnan said the State had shown a downtrend in new HIV/AIDS cases after a long period due to relentless work of APSACS. She felt children enjoyed more intimacy with teachers than their immediate family members and they were right people to teach them adolescent education.

There was a mixed response from private school managements towards the initiative.

While some cautioned on the language, others felt the component was framed in a haphazard fashion. “The entire logic of the programme is leading to use of condoms,” decried a principal.

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Andhra Pradesh