With holiday fever infecting most of us as the year draws to a close, topics like the best beaches on which to relax and 10 things to do without getting out of bed will undoubtedly be of far more interest to teachers than still more appalling facts about youth and HIV/Aids.
Sorry, but I’m going to have to be a spoilsport and bring the unhappy topic of HIV/Aids to centre stage one more time this year.
It’s not just that December 1 is World Aids Day. More importantly, research continues to bring to light horrific misconceptions about sex and HIV among schoolgoers — and the fact that teachers, above all other caregivers, can play the leading role in changing this.
One research report, published recently in the British Medical Journal, presents findings on learners’ views on, and experience of, sexual violence, as well as the risk of HIV infection among this group.
The 2002 study was substantial, with more than 269?000 learners between the ages of 10 and 19 from across the country participating. The findings point to is a generation so caught up in cycles of sexual violence that it has become a norm. For example:
58% said that sexual violence does not include forcing sex with someone you know;
30% said girls do not have the right to refuse sex with their boyfriends;
26% said girls enjoy rape; and
65,8% of males and 71,2% of females who admitted to forcing someone else to have sex had themselves been forced to have sex.
It is worth noting that the report says ‘the classroom setting seemed to be the only
source of education consistently associated with fewer misconceptions” about sexual violence and HIV.
It confirms again the idea that teachers are in the best position — better than priests or parents, for example — to guide our youngsters towards a more just and healthy future.
But there is the world to be moved before teachers can fully take on this role.
One concern about poor HIV/Aids education at schools was raised last month by Limpopo Premier Sello Moloto.
‘The weakness is that [life orientation] is not an examinable subject, so many teachers don’t take it seriously. They teach it when they feel like it. They don’t give pupils the necessary knowledge to deal with HIV/Aids,” he said.
While Moloto makes an important point, I think there are other reasons, too — such as a lack of teacher training in handling this very sensitive area, inadequate and unavailable teaching materials, and little support for teachers themselves who may be infected with, or affected by, the pandemic. Of course, there is also the reality that, if a similar survey on sexual violence were done with teachers, the results may not be very different from the younger generations.
Okay, enough. For now it is that well-deserved time for the kind hand of summer holidays to wipe that stressed frown from your brow, for you to hang up your workaday shoes and slip on some airy sandals.
And you’re going to need your rest, too — because unless the teacher unions and the government make hasty progress in resolving the ongoing pay dispute, it looks like there will be another round of industrial action to welcome you back to work next year.