The Impact of HIV and AIDS on Education

1. The Impact of HIV and AIDS on Education MTT 2004 Annual Winter School Mitigating the Impacts of HIV/AIDS on Education Systems Durban, 9th August 2004 M. J. Kelly, Lusaka, Zambia mjkelly@zamnet.zm

2. Introduction • “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”(Martin Luther King) • HIV/AIDS and its impacts on people and systems (including education systems) are things that matter to each one of us • For so long as the epidemic lasts, let us never be silent about these things

3. HIV/AIDS a New Concern for Education • Not part of educational thinking at Jomtien (1990) • Awareness developed late in the 1990s • More focussed attention since 2000 • Initial MOE concerns were with using the curriculum for prevention and hence incorporating HIV/AIDS issues—a continuing major concern and at the heart of UNESCO’s IBE approach • Recognition developed later that the epidemic has major impacts on education systems and hence the need for a systemic response—this now receives increasing attention and is at the heart of the MTT and IIEP (UNESCO) approach

4. The Two-way Interaction between Education and HIV/AIDS • HIV/AIDS has a strong grip • Education has the power to help break that grip • “Education can be a powerful force—perhaps the most powerful force of all—in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS” (World Education Forum, Dakar, 2000) • But just as education can contribute to weakening the grip of HIV/AIDS, so also the epidemic can weaken an education system’s ability to function

5. The Impacts of HIV and AIDS on Education • HIV/AIDS affects: • The context within which education systems function • The ability of education systems to function • What we want from our systems of education

6. Impacts on the Context of Education • HIV and AIDS are making radical changes in the environment in which education systems function • Major HIV/AIDS-related changes continue to occur in the • Economic situation • Social situation • Cultural situation • Health situation

7. HIV/AIDS-related Changes in the Economic Context for Education National level—slower economic growth Industrial level—higher costs, smaller markets, reduced profitability, constrained employment opportunities Household level—higher expenditures, reduced incomes, increased poverty All levels—diversion of resources to health costs; reduced investments/savings; loss of skills; fewer economically productive young and middle-aged individuals to support the elderly and the young Food Security—reduced production, inadequate transmission of agricultural skills, inability to use resources productively, chronic food insecurity

8. Other Impacts of HIV/AIDS on the Context for Education • Social Impacts—stigma, discrimination, orphans, vulnerable children, supporting affected families, supporting grandparents and the elderly, migration • Cultural Impacts—changes in formal and informal traditions and customs: initiation, funeral patterns, wife inheritance, taboo topics, family cohesion, role of extended family • Health Impacts—pervasive climate of poor health; use of hospital beds; shortage of nurses and health care personnel; increased health spending at national and household levels; drugs and ARVs

9. The Impacts of HIV and AIDS on Education • HIV/AIDS affects • The context within which education systems function • The ability of education systems to function • What we want from our systems of education

10. HIV/AIDS can Destroy Systems • As individuals concerned with mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector, our concern is with education as a system • “What HIV/AIDS does to the human body, it also does to institutions. It undermines those institutions that protect us” (Peter Piot, Executive Director UNAIDS) • “Most of the systemic inadequacies we are currently experiencing with HIV/AIDS existed long before the disease came knocking on our door. HIV/AIDS did not create these systemic deficits – it has simply exacerbated them and is creating new ones as new infections accumulate" (Dr Ernest Darkoh, Botswana's ARV programme manager)

11. What HIV/AIDS Does to the Human Body, it also Does to Institutions HIV Effects on the Body HIV in human body • Break down of immune system • A growing inability to shake off common illnesses and to deal with new ones • Reduced productivity • Death ??? HIV Effects on a System HIV in education • Progressive weakening of system • A growing inability to deal with existing management problems and to deal with new ones • Reduced productivity • Danger of collapse???

12. Impacts of HIV/AIDS on Education Systems HIV/AIDS affects the numbers who want to be educated, that is, it affects the demand for education HIV/AIDS affects the ability to supply education of good quality HIV/AIDS affects the costs of education and the availability of financial resources HIV/AIDS affects the management of education HIV/AIDS affects the quality of education HIV/AIDS affects the process of education

13. Impact on the Demand for Education • Many of our countries are still struggling to provide basic education for all (EFA) • HIV/AIDS makes this task easier because fewer children will be born and many who are born will die young because of mother-to-child transmission • On the other hand, HIV/AIDS makes the achievement of EFA goals more difficult because children from affected families may not be able to make use of available opportunities for schooling • Demand is also affected, in various ways, by the enormous and growing problem of orphans

14. Orphans (under age 18): Number and as % of all Children, 2003 Source: Children on the Brink 2004

15. Some HIV/AIDS-related Demand Questions • What is the likely future size of the school-age population? • Are all children entering school? Are they entering at the correct age? Do many enter at older ages? • Are all children completing school? Is dropout increasing? What is the drop-out pattern for girls? For orphans? Do children who have left school re-enter again at an older age? • Is there much movement of children from one school to another? • What are the reasons for any of these occurrences? Why do some children not enter school? Why do some drop out? Are there signs of families being broken up or migrating in search of employment?

16. Answering our Questions • Do we have the answers to the questions on the previous slide? • What information systems should we establish so that we could give reasonably accurate answers to these and similar questions? • Note that better answers to questions like these would make us better managers of education, even if there was no HIV/AIDS

17. Impacts on Supply • HIV/AIDS has negative impacts on the ability to provide education because: • Teachers and other educators are dying in increasing numbers and at comparatively young ages—and it may take some time before they can be replaced • Teachers who are ill are often unavoidably absent—and there is nobody to take over the affected classes • Family and community funerals are leading to increases in absenteeism • Rural posting of teachers is becoming more difficult because teachers who are ill want to be near health facilities • Teachers take up employment in other areas where AIDS has created vacancies

18. Impact on the Costs of Education • HIV/AIDS is resulting in: • New costs for replacement teachers and additional management personnel • Payments of salaries to absent or sick personnel • The lost training costs of teachers and students who die young • Premature payment of terminal benefits • The costs of ensuring OVC access • The costs of introducing preventive education (new materials and teacher training) • Additional management costs (HIV/AIDS units, AIDS-in-the-Workplace training , etc)

19. The Impact on Management • Every education system has its inadequacies and management problems • HIV/AIDS makes these worse • It also adds new problems • Some areas of particular need: • Human resource planning and management in an environment of uncertainty • Resource mobilization and financial flows—spending money efficiently and effectively • HIV/AIDS workplace issues • An HIV/AIDS-informed educational management information system • Harmonising donor and partner involvement

20. Impact on the Quality of Education • Education’s major outcomes—learning achievement and personal formation—are threatened by: • frequent teacher absenteeism, with classes being left for days (even weeks) to learn on their own • learners frequently absent or dropping out • shortages of teachers in specialised areas such as mathematics or science • concern for the sick at home interfering with ability to concentrate on teaching and learning • repeated occasions for mourning in schools, families and communities • unhappiness and fear of stigmatisation and ostracism on the part of both teachers and students who have been affected by HIV/AIDS

21. HIV/AIDS Impacts on the Process of Education • In school and college settings, HIV/AIDS affects • Social interactions (because of illness, stigma, orphanhood, frequent deaths, etc) • Curriculum content (because of need to develop preventive education) • Development and dissemination of materials • Training of tutors (trainers) & teachers • Monitoring and evaluation

22. The Impacts of HIV and AIDS on Education • HIAIDS affects • The context within which education systems function • The ability of education systems to function • What we want from our systems of education

23. HIV/AIDS Presents a Twofold Challenge and Opportunity • The epidemic presents educators with the challenge and the opportunity to • improve and reform existing systems • transform education

24. Opportunity in the Crisis of HIV/AIDS • The impacts of HIV/AIDS, though calamitous, do not necessarily lead into a developmental cul-de-sac • The epidemic presents a challenging opportunity for growth, reform and development • Vigorous community responses are revitalising society • In education, AIDS has created a greater sense of urgency in efforts to attain the Education-For-All (EFA) goals • The epidemic is leading to greater concern to find ways for putting an end to gender discrimination, in education, as elsewhere • The crisis presents an opportunity to re-think and re-design many of our approaches to these and similar issues • --------

25. Opportunities for Improvement and Reform • A comprehensive education sector response to HIV/AIDS will embody opportunities for improvement and reform, in such areas as • Greater involvement of the community • More interactive student-centred learning • Greater focus on skills-based learning • Deeper and more effective partnerships • Decentralisation in reality as well as in intent • Harmonious and mutually beneficial relationships between MOEs and teachers • Adoption of more streamlined procedures • Information about the system and EMIS

26. Transforming Education • Education has long been a prisoner of its past, with much stress on the academic • HIV/AIDS calls for a critical re-thinking of this and all aspects of educational provision • In education, as elsewhere in a world with AIDS, it can no longer be business as usual • It can no longer be education as usual • HIV/AIDS challenges educators to work out the kind of education that will prepare children and youth to live responsibly, productively, creatively, hopefully and happily in the world they face—a world that differs very radically from the world that existed 30 years ago when most of our education systems were designed

27. The Four Pillars of Learning • One possible paradigm for a transformed model of education is based on four principles: • Learn to know: communicate comprehensive and accurate information • Learn to do: foster the acquisition of skills—learning, manual, psycho-social, health, nutrition and other skills that will support one as a person throughout life • Learn to live together: promote an accepting, caring, rights-based, non-judgmental approach to every person • Learn to be: strive for the development of life-affirming attitudes, skills and value systems that will help learners be creatively responsible for themselves and their decisions

28. Practical Exercise, 1 • Identify ways in which HIV/AIDS has affected: • The economic context within which the education system functions in your country • The social context for education • The cultural context for education • The health context for education

29. Practical Exercise, 2 • Identify ways in which HIV/AIDS has affected the ability of the education system in your country to function in terms of • The demand for education • The supply of education • The costs of education • The quality of education • Is HIV/AIDS having any impacts on education that are in danger of being overlooked? • Does HIV/AIDS have any positive impacts on education or are the impacts all negative?

30. Practical Exercise, 3 • Identify ways in which HIV/AIDS has affected the way the education ministry in your country thinks about the kind of education it wishes to offer in terms of • Curriculum changes • Skills-based education • Radical re-thinking of the systems and content of education • Greater and more active involvement of the community in the management and provision of educational services • Is there anything more that needs to be done?