How do children affected by HIV and AIDS in Zambia cope with school?

AIDS orphans, infected children and those whose relatives have the disease experience problems at school. Family responsibilities reduce school attendance and anxiety affects their concentration. A lack of teacher training and the large size of classes reduce the quality of teaching. An absence of counselling, nutrition and equipment also interferes with their education.

Research from the UK’s University of Newcastle and the Zambian Instituteof Special Education shows that Zambia is one of the countries worst hit by theAIDS epidemic. Nearly 40 percent of the population has the disease and lifeexpectancy has dropped to 33. Interviews with teachers and children show how theyfeel about children affected by HIV and AIDS and their experience of school. Teachers think that there is too muchfocus on preventing the disease and not enough on the problems it creates ineducation. Teachers are not trained in providing appropriate emotional supportto pupils affected by HIV and AIDS.

A persistent lackof funding limits schools’abilities to provide a good education for students. The Ministry of Education and other agencies requirefunding to fill 9,000 vacancies for trained teachers. A restructure of thetraditional education system is required to provide ways of learning that will meet the needs of children affected by theepidemic. The study finds that:

• Pupils whose parents die drop out of school due topoverty, new responsibilities and the loss of their parents’ guidance.
• Boysand girls are equally affected by problems. Some orphans say they are bullied,particularly those whose parents have died of AIDS.
• Thedecline in teachers is partly due to death. Of the teachers who remain, 95 percent are trained but sanctions imposed by The World Bankhave prevented new teachers from being hired for the past four years.
• Teachersdo more for children than teach them. They give them food and clothes, keeporphan registers and try to get bursaries.  
• There is nosystematic identification of children in need and little funding for emotional and psychological support.
• Newcurricula are helping young people to develop income-generating skills, healthand social skills. These may reduce problems such as teenage pregnancy, whichstops girls from completing their education.

Zambia aims to provide basiceducation for all its children. In addition, it needs to make schools more caring and suitable for children affected by HIVand AIDS and provide them with more flexible opportunities for learning. This is what is meant by ‘inclusive’ education. Thestudy recommends that the Zambian Government and other agencies should:

• develop systemsfor efficient recording and monitoring of staff and students affected by HIVand AIDS, so that appropriate support can be provided
• improve the staffto student ratios in schools
• prepare andsupport teachers to deal with large class sizes andto deal with the social, emotional and educational needs of students
• increasethe number of students enrolling in upper-basic level education (grade sevenand beyond)
• collaborate to help students who have difficulty in attending school sothat they have access to alternative opportunities to learn, such as distantlearning. These can be supported by radio broadcasts and independent learningresource packs.