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'Unchaperoned teens, gay partners and sex workers -- fictional characters in a new curriculum for Myanmar schools are causing a real-world tussle over morality in a deeply conservative nation<br> <br>Unchaperoned teens, gay partners and sex workers - fictional characters in a new curriculum for Myanmar schools are causing a real-world tussle over morality in a deeply conservative nation.<br> <br>In Myanmar, sex out of wedlock is illegal, teenage dating is frowned upon by censorious elders and same-sex relations are still officially illegal.<br> <br>Yet sex education is urgently needed, say advocates.<br> <br>Nearly 8,000 died in 2018 from AIDS-related diseases, the country has the second-highest maternal death rate in Asia after Afghanistan and women's rights group IPAS estimates around a quarter of a million unsafe abortions are undertaken every year.<br> <br>Teenagers have only been taught sex ed since 2016, when the new government of Aung San Suu Kyi vowed to overhaul the country's outdated curriculum.<br> <br>But embarrassed teachers often sideline a subject tackling everything from periods and contraception to sexually-transmitted diseases<br> Myanmar doctor Kyaw Win Thant was sentenced to 21 months in prison on charges of insulting Buddhism amidst a debate over sex education<br> <br>A new textbook for the coming academic year - slated to start in July - included scenarios such as teenagers feeling intimate over homework, a gay couple whose condom breaks, and a customer at a karaoke bar offering a waitress money for sex.<br> <br>Conservatives in the Buddhist-majority country were outraged.<br> <br>"Is this a school textbook or a [https://go.forexbinaryoption.shop/jLvXiI free bondage porno]?" challenged Facebook user Aung Pho Min next to photos of the case studies aimed at 16 and 17-year-olds, triggering an online debate that snowballed.<br> <br>Monk Ashin Agga Dhama, once a member of the now banned hardline Buddhist group MaBaTha, waded in, branding the book "filth" that flew against the country's values.<br> <br>The ensuing online tit-for-tat saw a young doctor, who accused the clergy of hypocrisy, attacked by a mob and later jailed for 21 months for insulting Buddhism.<br> <br>After "hearing the public's voice", the government announced it would review the curriculum - so, for now, all sex ed is shelved.<br> <br>- Living in reality?<br><br>-<br> <br>Tensions between conservatives and those open to new ideas have increased since the country started transitioning to democracy in 2010, said Rosalie Metro from the University of Missouri-Columbia.<br> <br>The curriculum has always been a place where "ideological struggle" plays out, added Metro, who has studied education in Myanmar for 20 years.<br> <br>Many online comments questioned whether the controversy had a political motive.<br> <br>The Facebook account of Aung Phyo Min, the man who sparked the row, describes him as a member of the military-backed USDP opposition party.<br> All the teenagers in Myanmar that AFP spoke to gave a resounding thumbs up to sex education classes, admitting they largely relied on Facebook and friends for information<br> <br>Elections, confirmed for November, will likely return Suu Kyi's ruling administration to power.<br> <br>But the USDP, after five years in the wilderness, aims to take a chunk from her majority and was quick to jump on the sex ed debate.<br> <br>The party condemned the classes as encouragement for premarital sex, child rape, and the "arousal of sexual desire" among children.<br> <br>The Ministry of Education denied this, telling reporters the curriculum had children´s rights and interests at its core and had been been carefully designed with expert advice.<br> <br>All the teenagers AFP spoke to gave a resounding thumbs up to sex education classes, admitting they largely relied on Facebook and friends for information.<br> <br>"I´ve only read about it online so it would be really useful," said 16-year-old Yoon Shwe Bhon.<br> <br>Aye Myat Thandar, 14, agreed, saying she knew "underage people already having sex".<br> <br>Women usually have the most to lose.<br> <br>If single, an unplanned pregnancy can be devastating.<br><br>They are often shunned by their family, school and community, with little chance of support from the father.<br> <br>"Anyone who objects to these classes doesn't live in reality," says NLD MP and campaigner Phyu Phyu Thin.<br>'