I attended a workshop on HIV/Aids awareness for primary schools recently with other educators in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town. The room was filled with an eager bunch, full of life and ready to face the reality of this pandemic in our country.
But I detected a very relevant fear from the educators about this kind of awareness – not so much about teaching about the disease, but about sexuality. Teachers have an obvious accountability to parents and the community for their actions, even in their private life. In our conservative society we fear talking about difficult issues involving sexuality as we’re scared of how this will reflect on us and our personal practices.
But look where this fear and conserv-atism has taken us. According to the Medi-cal Research Council (MRC), the percentage of deaths due to Aids has risen from 9% in 1995 to 40% in the year 2000.
Other fears I picked up from the educators at the workshop were based on doubts about how much information needs to be shared with learners, as well as how best to guide the open discussions in classrooms. I can only speak from personal experience: trust your judgement and adjust your approach to what is suitable for the group.
HIV/Aids and life skills are a part of Curriculum 2005 and educators have an amazing role to play in moulding the youth in the prime of their lives. Statistics about groups most at risk and infected are astounding – and the youngsters we teach in our classes are among the highest in both risk and infected categories.
Simultaneously with the workshops, the schools were equipped with resource mat-erial on HIV/Aids by the Western Cape Department of Education – for which I hold them in high regard. It proves to me that the Aids pandemic is one of their key priorities and that it aims to ensure that those who are unaffected remain negative. The resources came in the form of activity sheets, video cassettes and manuals for educators.
Although these resources were clearly marked for each grade, I had to modify the activities in order for them to be appropriate for my grade. It is also a good idea to view the cassettes before showing your class to make sure the footage they see is appropriate.
We as educators need to enlighten our learners so that they will adopt the ABCs of sex: Abstain, Be faithful and Condomise.