Reply: HIV-AIDS education in schools

[Guest guest]

Dear Dr.Chatterjee:

If I may respond to your suggestion on life-skills education in schools?

I don't think the two things - life-skills education and sex education - are

necessarily at opposite ends of the spectrum with regards to school curricula;

consequently, I don't think we should necessarily look at the issue from a

" life skills v/s sex ed " perspective.

I'd like to suggest that they could both form important - and strongly

interwoven components - of a unified whole, if our educational

institutions/policy makers would only take note: Decision-making skills, self

awareness and refusal skills are very much a part of the politics of sexuality

and sexual negotiation, and should be components of any integrated sex education

course - as much as an understanding of gender relations and sexual interaction

should be a part of any life-skills course.

Having said that, I would be the first to agree that this approach would only be

possible if a sustained and long term approach to the entire question of sex

education/life skills could become a part of the school curriculum: I'm not sure

the short term 'magic bullet' approach favoured by most sex ed interventions

manage to handle the essentials of sex education adequately, never to mention

the linkages with life skills building...

This linkage factor between sex education and life skills was, in fact, raised

during a very interesting session on life skills at a recent orientation seminar

for NGO facilitators that I had the privilege to attend - but, sad to say, ran

head-first into the problem of the proposed duration of the intervention: A mere

4 months of intermittent contact with schools.

Ah, if wishes were horses...

Best,

N.Ramakrishnan

Ideosync Media Combine

No.804, Sector 7C,

Faridabad - 121 006

Haryana - INDIA

Tel:++91-0129-5310955/5249987

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Email: ideosync@...

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