Catastrophe or controllable crisis? The impact of the AIDS epidemic on schooling in Africa

It is widely believed that children who are directly affected by AIDS are greatly disadvantaged at school and that teachers are a high risk group for HIV infection. Research in Botswana, Malawi and Uganda suggests that the situation is much more complex.

An international team of researchers surveyed 41 primary and secondary schools across the three countries and interviewed education managers, teachers and other stakeholders. They investigated the effectiveness of HIV prevention programmes and the impact of the AIDS epidemic on pupils and teachers.

They found little evidence that education on HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and life skills has a major impact on behaviour. Economic and social pressures that fuel unsafe sexual practices among adolescents remain high. Teachers lack the training and commitment to integrate HIV/AIDS education into carrier subjects. The study identified an urgent need for full-time SRH/life skills teachers in both primary and secondary schools giving regular timetabled lessons.

The research team also found:

• Young people in Uganda have changed their sexual behaviour and are now less vulnerable to HIV infection, but change is more limited in Botswana and Malawi.
• The gap between attendance rates of orphans and other children is much smaller than expected. Poverty is the main cause of absenteeism among all children and deliberate discrimination is rare.
• Nearly all governments in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have responded slowly to the orphan crisis.
• Non Governmental Organisation and Community Based Organisation programmes are mainly concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas and schools offer little targeted support for children most directly affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Death rates vary widely among teachers, but do not suggest that they are a particularly high-risk group. In SSA, on average, one school in nine will lose a teacher to HIV/AIDS each year over the next decade.
• Teacher recruitment may not have to expand as rapidly as previously thought as school-age populations may be lower than expected thus requiring fewer teachers.

Many children will be caring for sick relatives over the next 10-15 years. The impact of the epidemic on the education sector will depend greatly on the level and effectiveness of help given to these children and their carers.

The report calls for:

• national HIV/AIDS strategies for the education sector based on multi-sectoral community action
• well-resourced national poverty reduction programmes, which support the basic needs of all children
• home-based care programmes
• ministry-wide action
• school-based measures such as free meals, financial help, and pastoral care and counselling to assist children affected by HIV/AIDS.

A workplace strategy for teachers and other staff is also necessary. The programme should be managed by full-time staff with sufficient expertise, authority and resources and should include:

• robust HIV prevalence and risk assessments
• intensive education and prevention programmes and active promotion of HIV testing
• work-based counselling and support groups and teams of AIDS counsellors who regularly visit schools
• careful monitoring of teacher deployment and transfers
• extra teaching cover for schools with sick teachers and regulations and procedures to deal with sickness and absenteeism
• medical support and provision of anti-retroviral drugs.

Source(s):
‘The impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the education sector in sub-Saharan Africa’, Centre for International Education, University of Sussex Institute of Education, by P. Bennell, K. Hyde and N. Swainson, 2002 Full document.

Funded by: The Rockefeller Foundation + DFID + USAID

id21 Research Highlight: 9 October 2002

Further Information:
Paul Bennell and/or Nicola Swainson
60 Rugby Road
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 6ED
UK

Tel: +44 (0) 1273 503259
Fax: +44 (0) 1273 503259
Contact the contributor: bennell_swainson@ntlworld.com

Centre for International Education, University of Sussex, UK

Karin Hyde
PO Box 742
Village Market
Nairobi 00621
Kenya

Tel: 254-2-43267
Fax: 254-2-43267

Other related links:
'HIV/AIDS, poverty and schooling: an AIDS epidemic or a poverty epidemic?'

'Knowledge is power - AIDS education for Ugandan schoolchildren'

'No quick fix: tackling the AIDS epidemic through combating poverty'

'Education for survival: better health and HIV/AIDS education for schools in Africa and Asia'

'HIV/AIDS and education in Botswana: strategic responses'

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