The Sangh Parivar may have earned itself a reputation for prudery, but in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is giving it a healthy challenge by opposing photographs of human anatomy used in adolescence education programmes in schools, saying it’s an insult to the teacher-student relationship.

But, as is the case with such campaigns, this latest one too seems to be ill-informed. The sets of photographs the Congress and its students’ wing, National Students’ Union of India, are objecting to and which they displayed during a protest here yesterday, are not actually meant for students.

The kits for the Adolescence Education Programme, run by the National AIDS Control Organisation and UNICEF throughout India, have been available in the state for quite some time. The Flip Chart, which carries the coloured sketches, is part of the kits, which are distributed to teachers after they undergo a four-day training under the programme.

The programme was introduced in the state two years ago and under it, Classes IX, X and XI students are given sex education and told about AIDS.

“When the Flip Chart is given to teachers they will obviously share it with students. Why should it be given to them in the first place?” asks Congress leader P C Sharma, who led the NSUI protest, noting that the BJP often lectures others on cultural values.

Told that the kits had been distributed to all teachers across the country, Sharma’s reply was: “We are based in Madhya Pradesh, ruled by the BJP. We don’t approve of such education. There are other ways of making children aware of AIDS.”

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