Chennai: Sex education has not been introduced in the school, as there would be resistance from the public, the state government informed Madras high court on Thursday.
Submitting an affidavit on behalf of the home secretary and the Director General of Police, assistant inspector general Maheswaran said that sex education per se is not imparted as there would be resistance from the public.
He filed the affidavit in response to a series of queries raised by Justice N. Kirubakaran, who sought to trace the cause for rise in sexual offences against women and children earlier. The judge asked the government whether steps have been taken to introduce ‘age appropriate sex education’ in school curriculum to educate students about sex to clear their doubts and wrong notions, as per the directions of the high court issued in 2015.
Maheswaran said students are sensitized through ‘Life Skill Education Programme’ (LSEP) and ‘National Population Education Programme’ (NPEP) through which HIV/AIDS awareness training is imparted.
To a query on instillation of CCTV cameras in public places, he said a government order dated December 14, 2012, was issued, which made instillation of CCTV cameras mandatory in all public, commercial establishments and places where large gathering of public congregate. He said so far, the facility has been installed in over 87,743 of such buildings.
He said student mobile counseling centres have been established in 10 zones covering all the 32 districts, equipped with appropriate equipment. In 2014-15, these counselors visited 1834 schools across the state and provided counseling to 3,47,875 students. Similarly, in 2015-16 need-based counseling was provided to 3,83,117 students and to 2,31,542 children in 2016-17.
