Education
Sector
Prepared by Sheldon Shaeffer, Regional Education Adviser for the East Asia and Pacific Regional office of UNICEF in Bangkok, Thailand. Series Editors: Professor A. Barnett, Mr E. Blas, Professor A. Whiteside. HIV/AIDS is affecting and will continue to affect economies and society at all levels, from the individual to the macro-economy. The most immediate effects are, of course, felt by the person who becomes sick, and then usually by his or her immediate family or household. Between the extremes of the individual and the macro-economy there are also effects on communities, enterprises and economic and social sectors. It is at these middle levels, which include both productive and service sectors, that interventions may be most urgently required. This AIDS Brief endeavours to provide some ideas as to how the educational sector may be affected and what types of response are required. Background In this AIDS Brief education includes school and out-of-school teaching-learning activities, from early childhood (including day care) to adulthood (including adult literacy programmes). It also includes post-school learning in universities, colleges and apprenticeships. Key Elements Although the elite classes can be seriously affected, the greatest impact is on the poor. Poorer families and communities spend less on nutritious food, adequate shelter, routine preventive health measures, non-AIDS-related health care, education and other basic needs. Women are at a special disadvantage. On the one hand they have fewer opportunities in terms of schooling and employment, land-ownership, security over land title, wage-earning and profitable self-employment (especially at times of recession and structural adjustment). On the other, they are at a special risk, often gaining access to income through sexual relationships with men. For widows and orphans, loss of land, shelter and inheritance may force them to depend on relatives or migrate to cities, where they might join an urban underclass of commercial sex workers and street children. As a result of all these social and economic processes, the AIDS epidemic can have a serious impact on the education sector - specifically on the demand for, supply of, and quality of the education provided at all levels. Numbers As a result of HIV and AIDS, fewer children may need education because the birth rate will decline following the early deaths of potential parents. The transmission of HIV from mother to child (which is estimated to occur in 30% of cases where the mother is HIV-positive), will increase infant and child mortality and further reduce the numbers of children entering school. In general there will not be a fall in the absolute number of children, but rather the rate of increase will decline.
In situations where schooling requires a financial outlay fewer children and their families will be able to afford education because of: -the direct
loss of family income from AIDS-related illness and death, and costs of
care and funerals; However it
is not just the lack of financial resources that will keep children out
of school. Other factors include: HIV/AIDS
may increase educational disparities between boys and girls because girls
are removed from school to nurse siblings or relatives, to substitute
for the productive work of other family members or to save the costs of
school fees. Moreover, girls may be encouraged to marry early - because
they are pushed out or seek escape from overcrowded extended families;
because men seek younger and presumably uninfected wives; and because
parents want daughters removed from a dangerous school environment
in terms of infection risk and sex education. Finally, it will become increasingly difficult for education to reach children, especially those defined as being in difficult circumstances. AIDS exacerbates problems of poverty, disinheritance, migration, orphanhood, child abandonment, psychological trauma, ostracism, discrimination, physical and sexual abuse - the very conditions which create such children. A major problem identified with the HIV/AIDS epidemic is the burgeoning population of orphans. Evidence shows that orphans have higher mortality rates; are likely to be less well nourished; may be overworked by their guardians; and lack supervision, proper care, and school or vocational activities. Such problems may be exacerbated if the child is uprooted from family and community, either through outright orphanhood or because of the often enforced migration of widows and their children. Such circumstances are resulting in increasing numbers of abandoned, exploited and unschooled street children. Supply HIV/AIDS may affect the supply of education through deaths of personnel, school closures, and reduced budgets for education. Teachers and other education personnel are not immune to HIV infection, indeed in some instances HIV seroprevalence may be higher among teachers than other groups. Teachers higher incomes and greater mobility are important risk factors, furthermore they may be posted to areas away from their families. The result of HIV infection will be: -absenteeism
caused by illness, tending the sick, and attending funerals; Of particular impact are the generous terms and conditions under which government staff are employed. In some countries they may have up to a year of sick leave with various levels of payment, and then their employment cannot be terminated unless a medical board is convened. This will create major difficulties for Ministries of Education, who have to pay staff who are not working. A fall in pupils - through lower enrolment or non-continuation - will lead to a decrease in the number of classes and schools. Reduced supply of education may also stem from lack of support and finance from heavily affected communities and/or the government. As both have other competing demands for resources, funds for maintaining facilities and places, let alone building new ones, may be very limited. At school and community level, as extended families grow, available income decreases while more financial resources are needed for illness and death; thus less money is contributed by the community to the school. At the level of the education system, funds may be required for health-related personnel costs such as treatment and care of staff, insurance, death benefits, etc.; training and paying replacements of affected personnel (who may still be on the payroll), and on implementing an effective AIDS education programme. At the same time, increased funds might be required for new clients and roles which the education system may need to adopt - scholarships for orphans, teacher-training in counselling, new curricula in family life education, new school-based programs in income generation. The Ministry of Education, however, may receive a diminishing proportion of the national budget as demand for resources increases from other sectors.
The numbers, tone and quality of education are changing as a result of the impact of HIV and AIDS. The processes and social interactions which make education work are inevitably being coloured by the epidemic. These include: increased
randomness in education, especially where systems already affected by
recession, debt, poverty, or disasters are further disrupted by absenteeism
of teachers and pupils caused by HIV and AIDS;
Most of the
above processes are also present at higher education level, but here vulnerability
and potential impact are exacerbated because: students of technical and
vocational schools, colleges and universities, are more sexually active,
usually residing far from their families and in boarding schools; and
these establishments are often located in larger urban areas where the
risk of infection is greater. teachers
often belong to a relatively privileged layer of society in terms of income
and mobility and because of their working practices; References
Barnett, T. and P. Blaikie (1991), AIDS in Africa: Its Present and Future Impact, Belhaven Press, London. Brown, T. and W. Sittitrai (eds.) (1995), The Impact of HIV on Children in Thailand, Thai Red Cross Society and Save the Children Fund, Bangkok. Cohen, D. (1992), The Economic Impact of the HIV Epidemic, HIV and Development Programme, United Nations Development Programme, New York. Katahoire, A. (1993), The Impact of AIDS on Education in Uganda: A Case Study of Lyantonde Community, Draft manuscript, International Development Research Centre, Nairobi. UNICEF (1991), AIDS and Orphans in Africa, New York. World Bank (1992), Tanzania AIDS Assessment and Planning Study, World Bank Country Study, Washington.
|
|
|