Girls as young as 14 are being given breastfeeding lessons as part of a controversial new programme in UK high schools.

Bizarre puppets and knitted breasts were used to teach 40 students at Liverpool’s Litherland High School how to breastfeed and express milk.

The girls — aged 14 to 15 years old — were also taught about the nutritional benefits of breastfeeding and why it was superior to bottle feeding, which is generally preferred by teen mothers.

Related: Would you buy your daughter a breastfeeding doll?

But while the advice is undoubtedly sound, the class sparked outrage in the local community.

Many critics questioned why such young girls needed to know about breastfeeding and said this was yet another example of children being sexualised.

“Teach them how to respect themselves, how to say NO and how to keep their legs closed, along with teaching them to read and write!!” one wrote on the Liverpool Echo website.

Another pointed out that as the age of consent in the UK was 16 and the average age women had their first child was 28, there was no need to teach such young girls mothering techniques.

But others welcomed the move, saying all teens should be taught basic life skills.

“This should be taught alongside other aspects of parenting, budgeting and general life skills,” one reader wrote. “Perhaps learning the realities of life will encourage some to wait until they are ready to start a family and break the cycle of bad parenting so many young people are trapped in. After all if you have not been properly parented yourself how can you be expected to know how to care for your own child.”

“I don’t think that teaching girls how to breastfeed will encourage them to get pregnant, in the same way that teaching them food tech doesn’t make them want to cook their own dinner all the time,” another wrote. “There is no harm in informing teenagers for the future, especially with something like breastfeeding which tends to be seen as unnecessary and old-fashioned by a lot of young people.”

For the young people at Litherland High School, the message that “breast is best” definitely got through.

Related: Should military mums be allowed to breastfeed in uniform?

Teacher Sheila Bradshaw said most of the girls completely changed their opinion on breastfeeding.

“Beforehand only a minority of students said they would consider breastfeeding in the future but by the end of the presentation a significant majority said they would,” Bradshaw said.

Your say: Do you think teenagers should be taught about breastfeeding at school?

Video: Breastfeeding doll stirs debate

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