OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday
BETWEEN 16% and 20% of all teachers in South Africa are HIV/Aids positive, according to a report commissioned by the education department to probe the impact of HIV/Aids on education.
The study, conducted by Abt Associates, suggests that Aids related deaths will also be the main cause of death among teachers in the upcoming year, the Beeld newspaper reported.
Education Minister Kader Asmal is expected to announce emergency plans to relieve the impact of the epidemic on the educational system shortly.
According to media reports, as many as one in four undergraduates and one in eight post graduate students have HIV/Aids. The report further claims that 25% of all technikon students have HIV/Aids.
The report follows closely on warnings by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the teachers’ union Sadtu that the impact of the epidemic could assume crisis proportions for education, said Beeld.
Abt Associates consultant Saul Johnson said no HIV/Aids tests were conducted to acquire the statistics. They were compiled in terms of mathematical models based on official statistics obtained from pre-natal clinics for pregnant women.
He added that the risk profile was equated by taking into account the ages and residential areas of teachers and students. Johnson declined to elaborate further on the contents of the report.
“It is difficult to determine exact figures, however we know that large numbers of teachers have HIV/Aids,” Sadtu deputy secretary Solly Mabusela told Beeld. “The disease will claim the lives of young teachers in particular.”
A study conducted by Sadtu between August 1999 and May last year shows that up to 701 South African teachers died of suspected Aids-related diseases.
According to a Unicef report, up to 860_000 sub-Saharan African primary school children of whom 100 000 were South African primary school pupils, lost a teacher as a result of Aids the year before last, said Beeld.