Health Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness said in May he was considering making condoms available in high schools.

This, he said, was in light of the Island's increasing statistics of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.

But in a letter to Mr. Edness last week, Association of School Principals president Mr. Melvyn Bassett said the general consensus at the union's final meeting of the school year was that "condom distribution should not take place in schools''.

But, Mr. Bassett said, the ASP supported the idea that various measures must be taken to address the AIDS problem in Bermuda.

"It is the view of the Association of Principals that our focus as a community, on the issue of the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, cannot be limited to a narrow debate on the pros and cons of condom distribution by schools which has become, quite understandably, an explosive issue.

"If we are serious about finding solutions to these problems, we must include a more extensive discussion on the broader aspects of sex education and sexual behaviour of school aged children.'' The ASP's view is shared by a majority of parents who recently made it clear to Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira that they do not want condoms available in schools.