New Delhi, July 18 - Discussing sex and sexuality, HIV/AIDS and responsible sexual behaviour with adolescents is a topic that makes most teachers and parents squeamish and also has community elders fuming. How should one get over the prudishness and disapproval and also make the topic interesting and interactive for the students?

Though adolescence education is a part of the school curriculum, it faces a major hindrance in the form of objections from some community elders and parents who feel it will promote licentiousness among the children, said experts.

Incorporating the 'cultural sensitivities' of people into adolescence education is necessary, but at the same time it is a topic that should be discussed by educators who are liked and trusted by the students so that they can feel free to share their doubts and queries on the subject, said experts at a seminar organised by three UN bodies -- UNFPA, Unicef and Unesco -- here Friday.

According to Saroj Yadav, a professor with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) who is in charge of the government's Adolescence Education Programme (AEP), most states have implemented it, except Gujarat and Maharashtra.

'Adolescence education should be culture specific and states have been asked to adapt it according to their regions. Teachers also need to be trained on how to impart the knowledge to children. The programme also needs assessment from time to time,' Yadav said.

Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, said the AEP, which is also called the Life Skills Education Programme, is 'trying to evade confronting a very important aspect of human life' by terming it Life Skills Education Programme and not sex education. 'Kids begin learning about sex at a much younger age these days, and due to the absence of organised knowledge there is trouble when they confront it practically,' she said.

She also said adolescence education should not just be about HIV/AIDS and population control, but also about 'women empowerment, so that women are made aware about their bodies and sexuality'.

Voicing the concern of many of the participants, another speaker, Indirashekhar Mishra, general secretary All India Secondary Teachers Federation, said the AEP had 'run into trouble' from a parliamentary committee.