By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Mar 7 2000 (IPS)

AIDS is a “four letter” word that is taboo in many schools in Sri Lanka, say children from urban and rural schools who attended a youth symposium on AIDS here.

“Forget AIDS — discussion on sex itself is taboo, even during the bio (biology) class. Our teachers are embarrassed to talk about it,” said Dedunika Kumari of Diyatillake College at Hanguranketa in the central Kandy district.

A recent survey to gauge awareness among young people about HIV/AIDS revealed teenagers were mostly ignorant about the killer disease.

Instead several students said the HIV virus was transmitted by mosquitoes, swimming, kissing, sharing cups and plates, wearing each-other’s clothes, handling money, and hugging.

Several student participants said there is a need to introduce sex education in schools and teachers to be trained to handle these sensitive subjects in the classroom.

“While on the one hand we can’t discuss these issues with our parents, in schools the teachers are too embarrassed to talk about it. We are compelled to rely on friends to learn about sex and other related topics,” a Kandy schoolgirl said.

The two-day symposium last month was organised under the ‘Youth for AIDS Awareness’ project of the AIDS Coalition for Care, Education and Support Services (ACCESS), a top non- governmental group involved in AIDS/HIV education. It drew nearly 100 students from schools in Colombo and Kandy alone.

Dr Kamalika Abeyaratne, chairperson of ACCESS, opening the meeting said that if a man drank or smoked himself to death, everyone would say “what a pity, he was such a nice man.”

“But, make one small mistake with this deadly virus — in my case the mistake was not even mine — and you will suddenly find that you have become less than human,” she said. A practicing doctor, she was infected by a contaminated needle.

She recounted how “friends would not cross the road” with you, and “spend their time jeering at you behind your back, making up vulgar stories on how you got infected, and colleagues at work or classmates would refuse to work in the same place or your brothers, sisters or parents may abandon you.”

The objective of the symposium was to spread the safe sex message among schoolchildren. Said Ann Moller, the programme coordinator at ACCESS who was the facilitator, “only one AIDS case has been reported officially in the 15-24 age group.”

According to the government-run National STD/AIDS Control Programme, the number of deaths from AIDS up to the end of August 1999 was 73, while a total of 286 HIV positive cases and 100 HIV carriers were reported.

Manel Silva, senior programme officer at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Colombo, says UN estimates point to between 7,000 and 8,000 people living with the HIV/AIDS virus in Sri Lanka, but the figure could be even higher.

“It is difficult to obtain figures and proper statistics because it relates to sexual behaviour,” she said in an earlier interview.

Another survey conducted by YFA/ACCESS, the results of which were unveiled at the Colombo meeting, showed there was more sexual activity among students, particularly in schools in the Sri Lankan capital.

Researchers interviewed 1,000 both female and male students between 15 and 19 years, from 20 schools in Colombo and the coastal town of Negombo, 30 km northwest of here to ascertain their sexual knowledge, attitude and practice.

The results are to be used in preparing future action programmes to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, and has now been extended to schools in Kandy. Both the survey and symposium were funded by the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.

The invasion of international TV channels was seen as a possible reason for increased sexual activity among school children, although there were differences of opinion among the 11 members of the YFA.

“There is more sexual activity now due to enhanced western influences through the media. Those days we had only government- controlled television but now everything is available including cable TV,” said Dimithri Silva.

Himali de Silva, another YFA member, disagrees. She believes the young have always been sexually active but it was not openly discussed like it is today. “Parents are open-minded now.”

YFA member Shanendra Perera said they were not encouraging young people to have sex, but advising them that “if they indulge in sex, do it with the right information.”

According to the survey, 40 percent of respondents to a questionnaire said their parents and family members advised them on reproductive health matters, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. The vast majority, however, had no knowledge of the organs of the opposite sex.

The survey concluded: “Education of youth on sexual health by knowledgeable persons is an urgent need.”

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