The Catholic church in Papua New Guinea says condoms will not be made available for students and teachers at its schools as required by the Education Department's new policy on HIV/AIDS.
The National newspaper quotes Archbishop Francesco Panfilo says the church cannot be forced to follow a policy that conflicts with its education philosophy.
He says the Catholic church sees the open and wide distribution of condoms as a go-signal to students for further sexual misbehaviour before and outside marriage.
The Education Department believes there is no way to fully control the sexual behaviour of students and claims that a high rate of HIV infection in recent years had been reported among the students.
