UGC Directs Colleges, Universities to Add Chapter on Sickle Cell Disorders in Syllabus

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked higher educational institutions (HEI) to include a chapter on Sickle Cell Disorders (SCD) in their syllabus to create awareness and prevention. Professor Manish Joshi, secretary of UGC in a letter to vice-chancellors of all universities and principals of all HEIs said to consider including a chapter on inherited blood or SCD in both schools and institutes. The chapter will include its causes, treatment, inheritance pattern, and modes of testing along with prevention as part of the curriculum.

The commission has come up with this decision after it was brought to notice by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). “It is given to understand that SCD is a recessive gene disorder that results in severe, lifelong anemia with potentially life-threatening co-morbidity and mortality,” reads an official notice. Further in the notification, UGC has informed that India stands second with sickle cell disease cases in the world, with an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 children being born each year with this disorder.

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The SCD symptoms can be effectively controlled with adequate awareness, counselling, and specific therapy, as per the Commission. Earlier, it was proposed that awareness of sickle cell disorders at different community levels such as school and higher education institutions via a well-drafted educational program can be helpful.

What is Sickle Cell Disorder?

It is a major public health problem in India that needs awareness and prevention. Sickle Cell Disorder is a lifelong disease and the only curative option for it is bone marrow transplantation. But the signs or indications can be effectively managed with adequate awareness, counselling, and specific therapy.

The recessive gene disorder has been found across states such as Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, the notice adds.

Arogyadharm Bahuudeshiya Sanstha, an NGO from Maharashtra’s Kurkheda district seeks UGC’s permission to include Sickle Cell in the Biology syllabus of Class 10 students. They hope that it should be included as part of the curriculum and topics on the body, health, and disease. The NGO’s president added that the department of education should be involved in informing young people, communities, and medical practitioners about the nature of this disease.

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