BANGKOK, Oct 4 (AFP) - Thailand's most prestigious university is to offer the country's first masters degree in sexual science in the hope of alleviating social problems, a report said Wednesday.

Classes at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University will start in 2002 after they are approved by the university's council, the Bangkok Post said.

The course will tackle a perceived imbalance between the increasing exposure of young people to products and services that provoke sexual desire and their limited sexual education, Professor Nikorn Dusitsin of the university's Institute of Health Research said.

It will hopefully encourage better understanding between young people, parents and teachers, he said, as well as help teachers, welfare workers and health professionals talk about an issue that, for many, remains taboo.

"Parents need to have accurate knowledge and share the truth with their children about sex," the Post quoted Nikorn as saying.

In July the public health ministry announced Thai children would be taught sex education from kindergarten under a new program aimed at curbing teenage pregnancies and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).

Nearly one in 60 Thais, or more than one million people, are HIV (Human Immune-deficiency Virus) positive.

001004
AF001004

Copyright © AFP or Agence France-Presse, 2000 - All Rights Reserved. AFP articles contained on the AEGiS web site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without AFP's prior written permission. You may make one copy of each article for your personal, non-commercial use only; more copies would require AFP's prior written permission..  http://www.afp.com/