Though Education Minister Anandiben Patel was sharp enough to retort, ``Doesn't Indian culture make reference to sex?'' claiming that sex education will be introduced in standard VIII text books from next year, it is indeed surprising that neither the Gujarat State Board of School Textbooks nor the Gujarat Secondary Education Board have been given any directives on this.

The proposal has reportedly been pending with the Government for a year without any comments. Health Minister Ashok Bhatt is believed not to be in its favour. Though the Central Government has been emphasising on a School Health Programme for generating awareness in adolescents to stem the rising scourge of AIDS, unfavourable political opinion is working against it.

Senior GSACS officials are reluctant to talk about the proposal, but it has reliably been learnt that the government was to have introduced sex education as a regular extra-curricular subject in all state schools with emphasis on peer education, teacher training, question-answer sessions and seminars. The need to make adolescents aware of the dangers of unsafe sex was felt because studies pointed them out as the most vulnerable section of society.

``The Health and Education departments are discussing the project. No decision has been taken yet,'' said State Health Minister Ashok Bhatt, when contacted. When reminded that it had been a year since the suggestion was made, Bhatt said he would bring this up for discussion soon. Education Minister Anandiben Patel, however, went on record to say, ``Books for this year have already been printed. Sex education will be included in the new school textbooks to be printed for standard VIII 2000 onward.'' Strangely enough, neither the Textbook Board nor the Secondary Board of Education is aware of this.

``We have no information about a new syllabus being drafted for standard VIII textbooks,'' says S.C. Gopani, Vice Chairman, Secondary Education Board. The Textbook Board adds that standard VIII books have not been updated since 1992. In September the process will start to print a new lot but so far no information has been received on a change in syllabus.

Dr Mafatlal Patel, chairman of the Ahmedabad District Panchayat's education committee, is emphatic that the Hindutva ideals of the BJP Government will not let it introduce sex education.

``It is an orthodox government. They feel the values of Indian culture do not recommend sex education for school children. This proposal will not be implemented. The government cannot take it up seriously,'' he says, adding that finding teachers with healthy attitude towards sex and who are comfortable at talking about sex to the students would be a problem. ``I don't think teachers will be able to take classes in sex education. They don't have the scientific knowledge or the healthy attitude that is required to teach the subject,'' he says.

Dr Radium Bhattacharya of the Sex Education & AIDS Awareness in Schools, a five-year-old project that has already trained 200 teachers from 89 schools in Ahmedabad including Trinity, Prakash High School, Anand Vidya Mandir, Sharda Vidya Mandir and Raj Hindi High School, says school principals and parents are ready for sex education in schools.

The NGO has been holding sensitisation workshops for teachers, parents and classroom intervention sessions where volunteers talk to students about sexually transmitted diseases, give them information about the deadly AIDS and HIV.

The need to take a firm step in AIDS control in the state has been felt because the one lakh HIV infected people in Gujarat are mainly believed to come from the high risk areas -- namely prostitutes and their clients. If the state can control the spread of the virus to the low risk groups -- adolescents, housewives etc -- it is possible to contain the disease.