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.”

Commissioner of Directorate of Public Instructions L S Baghel points out that the kits were meant only for “resource persons” trained under the programme, and were not part of the syllabus nor meant for students. “If teachers themselves are unclear about the subject, how will they educate students?”

State Nodal Officer P R Tiwari says students in 30 of the 48 districts in the state were covered under the project, and that the only reason it wasn’t extended to all was lack of funds. “Only half the schools in Bhopal and Bhind could be covered as a result.”

But the Congress claims that some teachers were themselves hesitant to use the kits in the classroom. “Any nude picture would look indecent. Instead of such kits, students should be told that they should abstain from sex till 25 and they would get the message,” reasoned a principal of a school for excellence.