OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday
A REPORT warning that Aids would become the leading cause of death among teachers this year was deeply flawed and based on questionable assumptions, Education Minister Kader Asmal said on Sunday.
Speaking on the SABC programme Newsmaker, Asmal said the report was not a department document, and that he rejected it because it was not based on proper empirical evidence.
“Most important of all, there is no basis for the conclusions they come to with regard to Kwazulu-Natal or anywhere else as to how many teachers will get Aids. These are estimates, forecasts,” he said.
He said the figures were based on a sampling of pregnant women.
The survey, which was conducted by international research-based consulting company Abt Associates Incorporated, and reported on in the media last week, found 20% of teachers in KwaZulu-Natal, 16% of teachers in other provinces and between seven and eight percent of principals and department heads were HIV-positive.
Asmal said his department was trying to work out a model for HIV impact that was “more systematic than the one we have”.
Obviously, teachers were vulnerable to the disease, but he was more concerned about to the 15 to 25 age group, young people, and notably young girls.
His representative Bheki Khumalo said earlier that no teachers or pupils were tested for the study, and that it was misleading to speculate that a certain percentage of teachers were infected with the disease.
He said that contrary to media reports, the study was commissioned not by the Education Department but by the Department of Health under the auspices of the inter-ministerial committee on HIV/Aids.
“We are currently assessing the validity of the findings as well as the methodology used in the research,” he said.
Speaking on Newsmaker, Asmal also condemned schools that withheld children’s examination results because of unpaid school fees. The Schools Act was very clear that children could not be penalised in this way.
“It is one of the most offensive things that happens in our country…. it is totally wrong. The sins of the parents can never be visited on the children.”
He said the document that some schools get parents to sign acknowledging liability for payment of fees was “totally invalid” and did not bind parents.