Will pre-marital or extra-marital sex lead to the transmission of deadly Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV)? Yes, says the 10th standard biology textbook under the state syllabus being taught in Kerala schools.
HIV can spread through premarital or extramarital sex, says class 10th biology being taught in Kerala school children, reported news agency PTI.
The 10th standard biology textbook states in Chapter 4 ‘Keeping Diseases Away’ that the deadly Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) can spread via ‘premarital or extramarital sexual contact’.
While answering the question, “What are the ways by which HIV spreads?”, the biology textbook for Kerala children states that it can spread “from HIV-infected mother to foetus”, “through body fluids” and “by sharing the needle and syringe used by AIDS patients.”
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What is more disconcerting is that the fact that the textbook has been made by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and has been in use by state schools since the year 2016; Up until now no teacher or any school authority has made any attempt to draw attention to the serious blunder. The issue came to widespread attention until some netizens uploaded the excerpt from it on social media recently and went viral, drawing the attention of several doctors and medical experts who objected to it.
Adding that the printing of the new textbook for the academic year 2019-20 has now been complete, SCERT director J Prasad told PTI that fiasco would not appear in textbook’s new edition.
Noting that the textbook was being taught since 2016, Prasad said that nobody pointed out the mistake till now and when it came to their attention, the board took “steps to exclude the portion in new textbooks which will be distributed to students soon.”
However, no further comment was made on the gaffe by the board.
SCERT oversees the academic aspects of school education which includes the formulation of syllabus and preparation of textbooks, teacher training, and teachers’ handbooks.
The board also advises the government on school education and its policy matters.