Caracas, Nov. 12 (Reuters): A display showing mannequins of pregnant schoolgirls at a Caracas mall is shocking shoppers and stirring debate over sex education in Venezuela.


 


Two local charities have dressed up three mannequins behind a shop window as girls with bulging stomachs under the blue uniforms used by schoolchildren here until age 15. The idea is to draw attention to an adolescent pregnancy rate they say is one of the worst in South America with one girl under-18 becoming pregnant every three minutes and 23 per cent of all births coming in that age category.


 


'I think it's horrible, awful. If I was a mother, I wouldn't want my child to see that,' said scandalised student Kelly Hernandez, 18, clasping her hand over her mouth as she took a double-take at the display today. Her friend Auriselvia Torrealba, 20, was more sympathetic, seeing a higher purpose to the shock campaign.


 


'Yes, it's disturbing to see in a window. But it's the truth. You see pregnant girls all the time on the streets. So this forces you to think about the problem, doesn't it?'


 


The two children's charities behind the shock campaign, Fundana and Construyendo Futuros, are delighted with the controversy and publicity around their display. 'It's amazing seeing people react as they walk by. This is such a taboo subject in Venezuela, we want people to talk about it,' Construyendo Futuros president Thalma Cohen said.