Uganda virgins offered university

ik - i can just see the line ups now at the Virginity Inspector's booth on campus...

From BBC.COM.UK

A Ugandan MP is raising funds to send virgins to university for free.

Sulaiman Madada says he wants to encourage schoolgirls to be morally upright and avoid early marriages.

"We do not want these girls to get exposed to Aids," he told the Associated Press. Uganda is often held up as a model of how to fight HIV/Aids.

Infection rates have fallen from 15% to 5% but critics say this could now rise because the government is promoting abstinence, rather than safe sex.

The call for abstinence in fighting HIV/Aids is backed by religious groups and Uganda's first lady Janet Museveni, who supports a campaign for young Ugandans to pledge abstinence until marriage.

Only girls in Kayunga district who pass a virginity test will qualify for the bursary, which will start next year.

Kayunga, in central Uganda, has one of the highest HIV/Aids infection rates in the country.

"I believe this bursary will make a difference," Mr Madada told the AFP news agency.

"I have contacted some NGOs and well-wishers to join me in this."

The number of scholarships will depend on his fundraising efforts, he said.