Sex education now, Asmal orders

In a desperate bid to tackle HIV and AIDS, Education Minister Kader Asmal has instructed his Department to urgently implement sex education in schools, technikons and universities.

"There must be a high sense of urgency, particularly because we now know the most vulnerable group are the 15 to 25 year-olds. They don't practise safe sex - they know about the danger but they don't," Asmal told journalists at a briefing in parliament on Thursday.

"We must show urgency - it can't be a bureaucratic thing. It can't be a long-term project proposal - we're past all that now. It must be the implementation," he said.

Responding to questions about his Department's plans to fight HIV/AIDS, Asmal said education authorities would be working with non-governmental organisations to implement a programme of action to tackle the "enormous" challenge posed by the disease.

The sex education programme would focus on sexual habits, especially in the light of rampant under-age sexual activity in schools.

A recent report had highlighted the fact that sexual activity largely began at 15, but there was an enormous amount of sexual activity before the age of 15.