An HIV-positive teenager has today called for lessons about the virus to become compulsory in all schools, claiming he learned nothing of it in sex eduction classes.

Luke Alexander has written an open letter to Education Secretary Michael Gove, declaring he ‘did not know much’ about the disease before contracting it.

The 19-year-old appeared on ITV’s This Morning, where he called for greater awareness 12 months after he received his devastating diagnosis.

In his letter, published as a petition on the Change.org website, Mr Alexander claims the ‘vast majority of young people today have little or no common knowledge’, of the virus. He said: ‘I myself strongly believe that if I had learnt about HIV during my secondary education, I might have avoided being infected with HIV myself at just 18 years old,’ the Independent reported. Mr Alexander, from Oldbury in the West Midlands, said education is vital if a younger generation is to be as aware of the condition as men who were exposed to the major awareness campaign of the 1980s. He said: ‘Before my diagnosis I didn’t really know a lot about it (HIV).

Click Here To Read More