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Starting next year, India's teenagers will learn about sex, masturbation and diseases like AIDS in their schools, a report said Wednesday.

Schoolchildren in New Delhi
© AFP/File Prakash Singh

The Council of Boards of Education of India, which sets the teaching curriculum for schools, has prepared a package on sex education, an official told the Times of India newspaper.

"The curriculum will be introduced in phases from the next academic year," said D.V. Sharma, a senior council official.

Seventeen of India's 29 states have adopted the educational package, but some states have met resistance to the reform from political and religious groups, the report said.

Sharma said the government would be pursuing implementation of the teaching package in states where there was resistance.

Sample textbook material recommends lessons about the human reproductive system and menstruation.

Schools have traditionally shied away from educating youngsters about such topics as human reproduction in the sexually conservative nation.

Guidelines for teachers also recommend educating teenagers about how to decide when to have children and how childbirth can affect a woman's health.

The materials also discuss such topics as masturbation.

Lesson plans would also teach teenagers how HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was spread and recommended the use of condoms, the report said.

©AFP

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