LAHORE: The Lahore High
Court has summoned a representative of Bargad, a non-government
organisation, for October 18 on a petition seeking action against the
group and Education Department officials for handing out school books in
Gujranwala that contain “objectionable material”.
Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh of the LHC issued this order on Tuesday on
a petition filed by Muhammad Tanzeem Arif, a retired school teacher
from the area.
The judge summoned the Bargad coordinator of the programme under
which the books were distributed after hearing the statements of two
former Gujranwala executive district officers for education on Tuesday.
Former EDO Ghazanfar Ali Sani told the court that while the books
were circulated in schools during his tenure, the memorandum of
understanding under which this was done was signed while Chaudhy Riaz
was EDO.
Riaz confirmed this. He said that the memorandum was for the NGO to initiate a programme to teach “life skills” at schools.
According to the petitioner, the “objectionable” book Ba Ikhtiar
Larkian, Badla Hua Samaaj (Empowered Women, A Changed Society) – had
been made mandatory for grades 6 to 8 at all government schools for
girls in Gujranwala.
He said the book contained material telling girls about the use of
contraceptives and “how to have friendships with boys”. He said in a
Muslim society, sex education could not be taught at schools. He said
that in signing the memorandum with the NGO, government officials were
guilty of misconduct and should be punished.
He said that he had complained to government officials after learning
about the book and the chief minister had set up an inquiry committee
headed by Punjab Education Foundation Chairman Raja Anwar. He said the
committee’s findings had not been made public.
He said that the only action apparently taken on the committee’s
findings had been the transfer of Sani, the former EDO. He said that the
inquiry report must be made public.
Former Gujranwala district coordination officer Nabeel Ahmed Awan,
the serving DCO, the education secretary, the PEF chairman, and the
Gujranwala EDO (education) are named as respondents in the petition.
Project finished
Bargad Executive Director Bushra Shaheen told The Express Tribune
that the NGO had ended the project and disposed of the books shortly
after Gujranwala citizens had raised objections to the content.
Sarmad Raza Naik, Bargad’s operations manager, said that the project
was initiated in good faith and through the proper channels. He said
that other books had also been provided to students under the project.
He said that the books in question had been handed out at schools in
Sanghar district in Sindh too, but there had been no objections. He said
that the inquiry committee set up by the chief minister had exonerated
Bargad officials of wrongdoing.
He said that Bargad had been working with the Punjab government since
1997 and had most recently helped draft its new youth policy.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Sex education to expand in Keys schools
Parents of Florida Keys public school students will have the
option to opt their child out of a new sex education curriculum that for
the first time will include discussion of contraceptive options.
The new programming is made possible by a $600,000, three-year grant from the federal Department of Health and Human Services and administered locally by Womankind in partnership with the Monroe County School District.
Established in 2001, the nonprofit Key West-based Womankind provides affordable access to woman's primary, gynecological and mental healthcare.
Formerly, sex education in the Keys taught abstinence as the only way to avoid pregnancy or contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
As teacher training is completed, the new curriculum will become available to students in grades six through 10 in 15 schools countywide.
Kim Romano, executive director of Womankind, called the grant a "dream come true" and stressed the need in the Keys to combat the increasing spread of STDs among teens.
Superintendent Mark Porter lauded the collaborative effort: "It was insightful to recognize that too often schools are the captive audience and people look to us to do certain things but there isn't that necessary support to make it successful."
School Board Chairman John Dick, a critic of short-term grants that leave the district on the hook after funding stops, said that wouldn't be the case here.
"The money is used to teach the teachers," he said. "Once they know the material, they know it. It can be continued on just by teaching" other colleagues.
During a Wednesday grant announcement at Womankind's Key West office, Dick arrived to find a bowl of condoms in his seat.
He drew laughter remarking, "I'm going to make sure these always stay in the Womankind office and never make their way into the schools. To be abstinent is the best way. That's the one you've got to push the most."
Individual schools have the ability to decide which staffers will attend training and later teach the classes. The money also pays for two employees, a program coordinator to arrange training sessions and a program manager to monitor implementation.
Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders will receive instruction called Draw the Line/Respect the Line designed to postpone sexual activity and encourage condom use.
Ninth- and 10th-graders will go through the Safer Choices curriculum, which continues the message of the earlier program while adding information about the prevention of HIV, other STDs, teen pregnancy and sexual decision making.
The new programming is made possible by a $600,000, three-year grant from the federal Department of Health and Human Services and administered locally by Womankind in partnership with the Monroe County School District.
Established in 2001, the nonprofit Key West-based Womankind provides affordable access to woman's primary, gynecological and mental healthcare.
Formerly, sex education in the Keys taught abstinence as the only way to avoid pregnancy or contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
As teacher training is completed, the new curriculum will become available to students in grades six through 10 in 15 schools countywide.
Kim Romano, executive director of Womankind, called the grant a "dream come true" and stressed the need in the Keys to combat the increasing spread of STDs among teens.
Superintendent Mark Porter lauded the collaborative effort: "It was insightful to recognize that too often schools are the captive audience and people look to us to do certain things but there isn't that necessary support to make it successful."
School Board Chairman John Dick, a critic of short-term grants that leave the district on the hook after funding stops, said that wouldn't be the case here.
"The money is used to teach the teachers," he said. "Once they know the material, they know it. It can be continued on just by teaching" other colleagues.
During a Wednesday grant announcement at Womankind's Key West office, Dick arrived to find a bowl of condoms in his seat.
He drew laughter remarking, "I'm going to make sure these always stay in the Womankind office and never make their way into the schools. To be abstinent is the best way. That's the one you've got to push the most."
Individual schools have the ability to decide which staffers will attend training and later teach the classes. The money also pays for two employees, a program coordinator to arrange training sessions and a program manager to monitor implementation.
Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders will receive instruction called Draw the Line/Respect the Line designed to postpone sexual activity and encourage condom use.
Ninth- and 10th-graders will go through the Safer Choices curriculum, which continues the message of the earlier program while adding information about the prevention of HIV, other STDs, teen pregnancy and sexual decision making.
More calls for sex education in schools
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 15, 2012): Sex education, including gender roles, should be taught in schools to better prepare children for present day challenges.
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) regional director Nora Murat said the subject should go beyond basic reproductive health studies, to also incorporate gender perspective issues, for instance, violence against women.
"Every day we read about cases involving young girls ... baby dumping, domestic violence and many others," Nora told theSun
When contacted, Women's Development Research Centre director Prof Dr
Rashidah Shuib said the government must take the lead in ensuring that
children are taught the right information.
"It is much better for information to be given in a proper manner,
rather than children finding out from other sources, like the internet,"
she said.
She said as children are less inclined to talk to their parents about
"intimate" matters, introducing sex education in schools will be a good
solution to the problem.
Social activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir said there is a lack of
political will to heed repeated calls from civil society and concerned
parents for sex education to be incorporated into the school system.
"Actually, what I would like to see is gender equality education. If
sex education (only) perpetuates the idea that women are less equal, are
inferior (to men), it does not help," she said.
Asked whether sex education should be introduced as a dedicated
module or incorporated into existing subjects, Marina said it must first
begin with a policy approach that applies across the board.
These comments reflect a renewed public interest in cases
highlighting possible consequences of entering into an unplanned sexual
relationship, or of young couples unable to cope with the pressures of
married life.
The government was also urged to take the lead in introducing sex
education in schools, rather than leave it to NGOs such as the Yayasan
Guru Malaysia Berhad and Putrajaya Consultative Council of
Parent-Teacher Association, responsible for organising a series of
"Parents Handling LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transsexual) Issues"
seminars.
A purported "guideline' for parents to identify LGBT traits in their
children, distributed during the seminar, attracted brickbats and
bouquets from concerned parties, including parents, rights groups and
educationists.
In response, Deputy Education Minister Puad Zarkashi told theSun the
government has no plans to introduce sex education as a dedicated
module in school, but rather, it will remain incorporated in other core
subjects such as science, biology and moral studies.
Blue print for sex education
My son Atharva is 13. Last year, he asked me why his female cousins
and the girls from our neighbourhood didn’t play with him any more. I
was stumped. Here I was, this evolved parent who thought talking about
the birds and bees was the most natural thing. And yet, strangely, I got
queasy about his question,” says filmmaker Ravi Jadhav, who’s made
acclaimed films like Natrang and Bal Gandharva. It was Atharva’s innocuous question that led him to make Balak Palak, a film on the need for sex education and the opening up of dialogue between parents and children.
Jadhav, who grew up in a middle class milieu, says he was about his son’s age when he first got curious. “The city was plastered with posters of a wet Mandakini in Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Sagar was released soon after and I remember being gripped by the song ‘Jaane do na’. Then came Tarzan starring Hemant Birje and Kimi Katkar, and though he was a children’s character, our parents astutely kept us away from the movie. I had questions about the way I felt, but all I could do was ask a senior about it. He encouraged us to read street-side porn, and catch BPs or ‘blue prints’ (which we called Bhakta Prahlad).”
When his son asked him why the girls didn’t play with him anymore, Jadhav realised how little had changed since he was an adolescent. “Soon after, I chanced upon a Time magazine article on the rising problem of teenage pregnancy in the West,” he says. He was en route to Pune with writers Ganesh Pandit and Amber Vinod Hadap when they told him about their 20-minute one-act play on sex education, called ‘BP’. “I told them I wanted to make a film on the subject, and after some convincing, they agreed.”
Jadhav has handled large canvases in both his earlier films. Yet, he feels Balak Palak was tougher. “I didn’t want to hold back on what I wanted to say, yet I felt that both children and parents should be able to watch the film together comfortably. I’ve always used humour in my ad films, but for this, if I wasn’t careful, there was the danger that it could become vulgar or ribald. Right from the writing stage to the shoot and edit, this is what made the process longer than usual and I spent one year on the film.”
The film was screened at the Marathi International Film & Theatre Awards in Singapore last week. Film critic Amit Bhandari says he was amazed at the 1,400-plus audience’s response. “With Natrang, Jadhav re-visited the long forgotten tamasha movie genre; with Bal Gandharva, he took on a larger-than-life personality and humanised him; and now, with BP, he has again pushed the envelope,” says Bhandari.
Before its release in theatres, Balak Palak will travel to New York for the South Asian Film Festival and then be screened at MAMI festival in Mumbai on October 20.
Jadhav, who grew up in a middle class milieu, says he was about his son’s age when he first got curious. “The city was plastered with posters of a wet Mandakini in Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Sagar was released soon after and I remember being gripped by the song ‘Jaane do na’. Then came Tarzan starring Hemant Birje and Kimi Katkar, and though he was a children’s character, our parents astutely kept us away from the movie. I had questions about the way I felt, but all I could do was ask a senior about it. He encouraged us to read street-side porn, and catch BPs or ‘blue prints’ (which we called Bhakta Prahlad).”
When his son asked him why the girls didn’t play with him anymore, Jadhav realised how little had changed since he was an adolescent. “Soon after, I chanced upon a Time magazine article on the rising problem of teenage pregnancy in the West,” he says. He was en route to Pune with writers Ganesh Pandit and Amber Vinod Hadap when they told him about their 20-minute one-act play on sex education, called ‘BP’. “I told them I wanted to make a film on the subject, and after some convincing, they agreed.”
Jadhav has handled large canvases in both his earlier films. Yet, he feels Balak Palak was tougher. “I didn’t want to hold back on what I wanted to say, yet I felt that both children and parents should be able to watch the film together comfortably. I’ve always used humour in my ad films, but for this, if I wasn’t careful, there was the danger that it could become vulgar or ribald. Right from the writing stage to the shoot and edit, this is what made the process longer than usual and I spent one year on the film.”
The film was screened at the Marathi International Film & Theatre Awards in Singapore last week. Film critic Amit Bhandari says he was amazed at the 1,400-plus audience’s response. “With Natrang, Jadhav re-visited the long forgotten tamasha movie genre; with Bal Gandharva, he took on a larger-than-life personality and humanised him; and now, with BP, he has again pushed the envelope,” says Bhandari.
Before its release in theatres, Balak Palak will travel to New York for the South Asian Film Festival and then be screened at MAMI festival in Mumbai on October 20.
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