I’m against vulgarity, not sex education, Harsh Vardhan says

NEW DELHI: Union health minister Harsh Vardhan clarified on Friday that his statement on banning sex education in schools was made in the context of UPA’s 2007 decision to introduce the Adolescence Education Programme in its original form, and that his objection was to “graphic representation of culturally objectionable symbols”.
“I am against ‘so called’ sex education not sex education per se.Crudity, vulgarity out, values in,” Vardhan, who is presently on an official visit to the United States, tweeted.
“Even the chiefs ministers of UPA-ruled states had objected to it (AEP) and subsequently it was modified,” the minister, an ENT specialist, elaborated in a Facebook post. “I am a medical professional who has embraced rationalism and I whole-heartedly support pedagogy that is scientific and culturally acceptable. Anything abrasive to common sensibilities and articulated as such by responsible persons should be discarded and replaced by consensually accepted learning processes.”
TOI had reported about Vardhan’s vision document for Delhi schools, displayed on his website, which said, “So-called 'sex education' (should) to be banned.” His website also stressed integration of value education in course content — a view many activists said reflected the RSS agenda.

The minister, who had earlier held the education portfolio (along with health) in the Delhi government between 1993 and 1998, also claimed to have “reformed” the curriculum of the state’s schools in consultation with experts. “There was a sex education component in the curriculum then too but nobody reported objections with it,” he said.
Vardhan added that, as chief ministerial candidate in the 2013 assembly elections, he had made transparent his agenda for education — namely implementing value-based learning processes, “common in all countries”, in Delhi’s schools. “In September 2002, a Division Bench of the Honourable Supreme Court of India had upheld the government’s right to introduce Value Education in the school curriculum (B G Verghese, Aruna Roy and others vs NCERT, Writ Petition 98 of 2002),” he wrote.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan with Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at a meeting in Washington on Wedesday.
Earlier, the health minister had created a stir by claiming that marital fidelity and morality, and not usage of condoms alone, should be the thrust of the fight against AIDS. “Condoms promise safe sex, but the safest sex is through faithfulness to one’s partner. Prevention is always better than cure,” he was quoted as saying.
Vardhan’s comment drew sharp criticism from opposition leaders and public health experts.
“Research indicates that early sexual initiation on account of sex education leads to more responsible sexual behaviour as the information is made available in a scientifically accurate, non-judgmental, age appropriate and carefully phased process and not otherwise as suggested by many politicians,” said an activist. “Vardhan is a doctor, he must unequivocally support such education and not try to camouflage his views by talking about UPA’s policy or importance of cultural values.”