A government drive to standardise HIV/Aids policies in schools over the past three years has highlighted the need for schools to formalise their strategies to tackle the epidemic and its effects.
Phillip Methula, of the NGO Link Community Development in Pretoria, says: “We found that many schools had a one-page document and much of it would be centred around Aids awareness only, which is simply not broad enough.”
Link worked with the Department of Education (DoE) to develop HIV/Aids training programmes for teachers when the department launched resource manuals in 2003. In the initial pilot training project held towards the end of last year, Link reached 104 schools throughout the country.
Methula says: “What is needed is greater coherence in schools’ policies and the creation of one national template that covers key areas, but also takes into consideration the individual needs of specific schools.”
Link offers three-day training workshops conducted at the school’s premises. Typically there are three participants from the school’s senior management team and three participants from the governing body per course. The participants are guided on how to develop a policy for their school and an action plan for carrying out the policy.
Five key areas are addressed: preventing the spread of HIV; addressing the core needs and strategies to support infected or affected learners; addressing the core needs and support for educators; assisting the school in dealing with the negative impacts of HIV/Aids; and bolstering partnerships between the school, government departments and other NGOs.
The training includes how to deal with issues ranging from teacher absenteeism as a result of illness related to HIV, to assisting Aids orphans and helping those affected and infected to access state grants.
The course costs are covered by the DoE and include a follow-up session six weeks after the training to ensure that the policy is effective and workable.
Another innovative project is offered by Drama in Aids Education (DramAide), an agency of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
The intervention uses techniques of theatre and the arts to encourage dialogue and real support at a school level.
DramAide currently works with about 80 schools in KwaZulu-Natal and its programmes are developed along DoE guidelines.
Mkhonzeni Gumede, project manager of DramAide, says that “teachers are aware of the policies that they should be implementing, but they often don’t have the confidence and don’t have the appropriate methodology to do so”.
By using informal, interactive, theatre-inspired techniques in a school-based programme called Act Alive, Gumede says that barriers are broken down between teachers and learners. Students consequently feel more comfortable approaching their teachers with their concerns and problems.
“The model moves away from a ‘telling’ approach and instead gets learners to give the answers and to open up. At the same time, teachers themselves are exposed to HIV/Aids issues and situations that affect them as well,” says Gumede.
After the initial educational production, DramAide conducts workshops separately for teachers and students. A peer-educator club is established and then class-by-class interventions take place, using techniques such as role-playing and poetry.
“It’s a long-term relationship we have with schools. We also work with the teachers and learners outside of school by taking them away on camps where they are exposed to other NGOs and bodies tackling the HIV/Aids issue,” Gumede says.
For more information, contact Link Community Development on Tel: (012) 663 8560 or DramAide on Tel: (031) 260 1564. Other organisations conducting HIV/Aids training for teachers include the Catholic Institute of Education. Call Tel: (011) 433 1888 and Soul Buddyz on Tel: (011) 643 5852