AIDS Hits Education Systems Hard
Dec 09, 2002
HIV/AIDS has been around now for over two decades.
By Keturah Kamugasa in Dar es Salaam
HIV/AIDS has been around now for over two decades. Preventive measures have been put in place and anti retrovirals (ARVs) are more accessible now than they were five years ago. But while governments were laying strategy to keep infection low and to ensure that those infected lived longer, they forgot its impact on education.
Even Uganda, one of the success stories in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, has been ambushed by the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education system. Teachers are dying, needing urgent replacement. However, there is no data to indicate how many teachers have died from the disease.
There is no specific data on teachers infected with HIV/AIDS. So we need to take action and find out how many teachers have HIV at different levels of education says Mrs Teopista Birungi Mwanja, General Secretary, Uganda Teachers' Association.
Mwanja says it is important to have a national plan of action on HIV/AIDS in education. She says this will guide teachers' unions, the Ministry of Education and Sports other partners on how to take action.
“We have come up with a focal desk on HIV/AIDS,†says Namirembe Bitamazire, minister of education in charge of primary education. “Its role is to coordinate the sector programme on AIDS,†she adds.
However, it is not only the infection and death of teachers that is impacting the education system. It is on record that a child whose parents are sick with AIDS is less likely to concentrate in class. Sometimes, children, especially girls are kept out of school to nurse sick parents and relatives, thus contributing to abseeintism. AIDS orphans often lose interest even when there is money to pay for their education, so they drop out of school.
“Most teachers tend to stay away once they know they are sick. Policy is that sick teachers remain on the payroll until God takes them,†Bitamazire observes on a sad note. “I suspect that there might be stigma at school level," she adds thoughtfully.
On the question of making ARVs more accessible to African teachers at a subsidised cost, you are met with either silence or reluctant answers. Nobody wants to take a stand on this.
At the eighth African Education Ministers' Conference (MINEDAF VIII) in Dar es Salaam, all the speakers spoke passionately about the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education system, particularly on teachers. However, none of them was willing to commit themselves on ARVs.
“Governments must come up with a clear policy on ARVs. Our job as UN systems is to ensure that equity is observed. But it is not only teachers who need assistance, it is parents, agricultural extension workers, managers, etc,†says Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
In the same breath, Piot admits that although there is a substantial amount of money invested in HIV/AIDS prevention and care, it is not enough: “If we don't double our efforts, we will have more bad news, more infections, more deaths,†he warns.
In Botswana, 30% of the teachers are infected and with HIV, says Emmanuel Fatoma of the Global Campaign for Education based in Geneva. In some areas, according to a World Bank study, children no longer go to school because the teachers are too sick to teach them.
Clearly, intervention in terms of ARVs is needed. Teachers are among the worst paid people in Africa. They cannot afford ARVs.
Southern Africa is the worst hit with a rate of infection that has been termed as ‘alarming.’
However, there is a glimmer of hope as teachers respond to counselling and other interventions like having access to information: “In South Africa, some teachers have gone public,†Fatoma discloses with some optimism.
The MINEDAF VIII conference certainly woke African ministers up to the challenges affecting education for all. Although they were well aware of other challenges like gender parity, making education inclusive, providing vocational and technical education, the impact of HIV/AIDS on education systems ambushed them. Now they have to think of that too. Ends
HIV/AIDS has been around now for over two decades. Preventive measures have been put in place and anti retrovirals (ARVs) are more accessible now than they were five years ago. But while governments were laying strategy to keep infection low and to ensure that those infected lived longer, they forgot its impact on education.
Even Uganda, one of the success stories in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, has been ambushed by the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education system. Teachers are dying, needing urgent replacement. However, there is no data to indicate how many teachers have died from the disease.
There is no specific data on teachers infected with HIV/AIDS. So we need to take action and find out how many teachers have HIV at different levels of education says Mrs Teopista Birungi Mwanja, General Secretary, Uganda Teachers' Association.
Mwanja says it is important to have a national plan of action on HIV/AIDS in education. She says this will guide teachers' unions, the Ministry of Education and Sports other partners on how to take action.
“We have come up with a focal desk on HIV/AIDS,†says Namirembe Bitamazire, minister of education in charge of primary education. “Its role is to coordinate the sector programme on AIDS,†she adds.
However, it is not only the infection and death of teachers that is impacting the education system. It is on record that a child whose parents are sick with AIDS is less likely to concentrate in class. Sometimes, children, especially girls are kept out of school to nurse sick parents and relatives, thus contributing to abseeintism. AIDS orphans often lose interest even when there is money to pay for their education, so they drop out of school.
“Most teachers tend to stay away once they know they are sick. Policy is that sick teachers remain on the payroll until God takes them,†Bitamazire observes on a sad note. “I suspect that there might be stigma at school level," she adds thoughtfully.
On the question of making ARVs more accessible to African teachers at a subsidised cost, you are met with either silence or reluctant answers. Nobody wants to take a stand on this.
At the eighth African Education Ministers' Conference (MINEDAF VIII) in Dar es Salaam, all the speakers spoke passionately about the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education system, particularly on teachers. However, none of them was willing to commit themselves on ARVs.
“Governments must come up with a clear policy on ARVs. Our job as UN systems is to ensure that equity is observed. But it is not only teachers who need assistance, it is parents, agricultural extension workers, managers, etc,†says Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
In the same breath, Piot admits that although there is a substantial amount of money invested in HIV/AIDS prevention and care, it is not enough: “If we don't double our efforts, we will have more bad news, more infections, more deaths,†he warns.
In Botswana, 30% of the teachers are infected and with HIV, says Emmanuel Fatoma of the Global Campaign for Education based in Geneva. In some areas, according to a World Bank study, children no longer go to school because the teachers are too sick to teach them.
Clearly, intervention in terms of ARVs is needed. Teachers are among the worst paid people in Africa. They cannot afford ARVs.
Southern Africa is the worst hit with a rate of infection that has been termed as ‘alarming.’
However, there is a glimmer of hope as teachers respond to counselling and other interventions like having access to information: “In South Africa, some teachers have gone public,†Fatoma discloses with some optimism.
The MINEDAF VIII conference certainly woke African ministers up to the challenges affecting education for all. Although they were well aware of other challenges like gender parity, making education inclusive, providing vocational and technical education, the impact of HIV/AIDS on education systems ambushed them. Now they have to think of that too. Ends