Joan Dommisse

There’s only one thing that 2010 means to South Africans — the Fifa World Cup. But 2015 could mark an even greater achievement.

How can educators get learners to think differently about the consequences of unprotected sex?

"Fight HIV like our grandfathers fought apartheid" – these were the wise words of a grade 11 learner. "Fighting HIV is like climbing Kilimanjaro," another said.

In February a shocking article appeared in a daily newspaper. A grade 11 girl from Tembisa High School on Gauteng’s East Rand died after giving birth to a baby girl she named "Comfort". The article reported that 30 girls from Tembisa High had fallen pregnant last year and 23 from neighbouring Zitikeni Secondary.

When singer-song-writer-poet Bob Dylan wrote The Times They Are A Changin’ in 1964, no one knew quite how the pace would pick up in the 45 years since he wrote the famous lyrics. Today’s teenagers world is unlike anything most of us experienced in the past. The monster of HIV did not exist.

After a month back at school, you have hopefully established your rhythm for 2009. I hope that as you map your year ahead you will think about your role in protecting learners from HIV and Aids. As a competent teacher you can play a key role in HIV prevention.

The latest report suggesting that there has been a possible slowdown of the HIV-epidemic in South Africa should be regarded as an act of providence, rather than something for which the department of health can claim credit.

Many teens say they use condoms "sometimes" but not "always", according to a national survey on the sexual behaviour of young people.

Teenagers often enter HIV danger zones – high-risk factors that can cost them their lives. I set about identifying some of these high-risk factors with a group of grade 11 learners at West Ridge High School in Johannesburg.

Excitement was in the air at Malvern High School in Johannesburg when 20 learners arranged a circle of chairs for a brainstorming session. The purpose was to highlight the importance of young people thinking for themselves and thinking more effectively.

In 1953 there was a polio scare in South Africa. Schools, swimming pools and movie houses throughout the country were closed for an extended period. There was no cure. There was no vaccine. And no one was sure how the disease was spread.

The heavy toll of HIV on the 14- to 25-year-old age group haunts us all. One possible remedy is to provide a higher quality education to enable learners to step into a future that offers some promise. But we know that is not enough.

A friend, and also a brilliant maths teacher, told me that as a child in Hitler’s Germany she stretched out her little arm in the "Heil Hitler" salute.

An annual youth programme that tries to offer new perspectives on various issues took place recently at the campus of Monash South Africa in Ruimsig, west of Johannesburg. The event, which started in 2001 and has been sponsored by Monash since 2003, was attended by about 120 grade 11 learners from Soweto and other areas.

Schools may well be feeling helpless in the face of the spiralling rate of HIV infections, especially in the 14- to 25-year-old age group. Learners resist the information that is officially on offer and we don’t seem to be hitting the mark.

The department of education disclosed the alarming escalation of teenaged pregnancy that made headlines last year. More than 72 000 girls aged between 13 and 19 did not attend school because they were pregnant.