New York City
schools set to introduce new HIV curriculum

Public schools in New York City will introduce a new HIV curriculum in December that includes instruction on condom use and corrections of factual errors that existed in the old curriculum, which was written in the late 1980s, the New York Sun reports. For example, the old curriculum encourages the use of the spermicide nonoxynol-9, but recent studies have shown that the compound irritates the lining of the vagina and the anus, making infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases easier.

State law requires public schools to offer lessons on HIV to all students; New York City rules require that students in grades 7-12 participate in six HIV education classes each year and that students in elementary school receive HIV lessons annually.

Conservatives in the state oppose the new curriculum, saying information about condoms should not be presented in schools. "To go down that road is only looking for more trouble than we need," Conservative Party chairman Michael Long told the Sun. (Advocate.com)