Risky behaviour: can education help?

Transactional sex between young girls and older men is common place in Malawi and in most cases sexual misconduct among teachers goes unpunished. Survey findings from Malawi, part of a three-country study based at the University of Sussex, which includes Botswana and Uganda, show that:

Students are indulging in risky sexual behaviour, involving multiple partners for example, despite being generally well informed about how HIV is transmitted.

Contributory factors to risky behaviour include poverty, fatalism - we have to die sometime - desire to experiment, easy money, and lack of will power.

Widespread confusion as to whether or not condoms are effective exists.

AIDS education is ineffectively taught and has failed to bring about substantive changes in sexual behaviour.

Due to lack of training and cultural taboos, many teachers are too embarrassed to teach the AIDS components of the curriculum.

Only a small percentage of teachers in the survey consider that sexual harassment of students by teachers is ‘a big problem’ in their school.

What can be done to help break this culture of silence and change the behaviour of both learners and teachers? Policy implications include the need to:

• develop peer education and drama techniques to open up discussion of AIDS issues between students, school staff and the local community
• develop links between community and schools through existing structures such as Parent Teacher Associations using social mobilisation techniques to help change attitudes towards girls’ schooling
• provide access to non-formal education and income generating projects for out-of-school youth and dropouts (many of them orphans)
• include effective life skills classes throughout primary and secondary schooling, at present only operating in Standard 4
• promote greater use of child-centred teaching methods especially in relation to AIDS and health subjects
• provide teachers and management with practical training on how best to communicate with and teach pupils about the importance of safe sex
• conduct further research into adolescent sexual behaviour and sexual harassment.

Source(s):
Insights special isssue - Conspiracy of silence? Stamping out abuse in African schools Full document.

id21 Research Highlight: 16 July 2001

Further Information:
Esme Kadzamira
Centre for Educational Research and Training
Chancellor College
University of Malawi
Zomba
Malawi

Contact the contributor: chipoek@chirunga.sdnp.org.mw

Nicola Swainson
Centre for International Education
University of Sussex Institute of Education
Brighton BN1 9RG
UK

Contact the contributor: bennell_swainson@ntlworld.com

Centre for International Education, UK

Other related links:
'HIV/AIDS and education in Botswana: strategic responses'

'Dying of sadness: gender sexual violence and the HIV epidemic' from the UNDP

'Adolescent Sexuality, Gender and the HIV Epidemic' from the UNDP

Learning Channel focuses on AIDS and education

'Closing the Gender Gap in Education: Curbing Dropout' - FAWE reports on sexual harassment