COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
CHAPTERS: Chapter 1-5
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ABSTRACT
HIV/AIDS is a human catastrophic virus/disease, which has killed thousands and thousands of people including immature growing up kids. “Today more than 13 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS (UNAIDS, 2002:3). Undoubtedly, the number of AIDS orphans is increasing at an alarming rate and parental death to AIDS has resulted in their dropping school, labour exploitation, stigma and discrimination.
This study has been conducted with the objective to investigate the educational problems of AIDS orphaned children and to seek possible educational approaches to them. ‘AIDS orphans are likely to be less well nourished, may be over worked by their guardians and lack proper supervision, care and school or vocational training…. schooling for orphans is unexplored and new issue which needs to be addressed (Gachuhi, 1999:8).
Of the various sectors, education is the one heavily affected by HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS affects the demand for education, the supply and quality of education, the available resources for education, etc. Therefore, attempts have been made to evaluate the kind of care and support AIDS orphans have received within the extended family circle, and to see their academic achievements, school enrollment rate, needs, values and motivations, the deficits they have had and the solution that have been undertaken.
Using convenient and purposive sampling method, a total of 406 individuals were selected for the study. Based on this sample two types of questionnaires have been developed to be completed by AIDS orphans & caretakers. The views of concerned Ministries and Associations of HIV carriers like Dawn of Hope and Mekedim NIGERIA have been gathered by way of an interview. Observations have been made on AIDS orphans who have themselves been HIV carriers. Two focus group discussions were conducted with AIDS orphaned children. The quantitative data have been analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, variance & standard deviation. In addition, ANOVA, t-test, Chi-square test, Spearman rho correlation and percentage have been employed. The qualitative data gathered have been transcribed by the use of words and sentences.
The findings of the study have revealed that more than half of the AIDS orphans are being reared in the extended family circle. They are receiving support like wheat, food oil and money from Associations of HIV carriers and local NGO’s, but the support they get is not sufficient and lacks uniformity among the different supporting agencies. AIDS orphans also lack psychological support from the caretakers. The majority of the AIDS orphans who have been included in the study have succeeded in attending schools. Most of them are in regular schools of both government and privately owned ones, but very few are in night school programs. Concerning class attendance a significant difference has been observed between boys and girls. More boys attend classes than girls. AIDS orphans are found to be stigmatized and discriminated by their age mates. Despite the prevailing stigma and discrimination, these AIDS orphans have been found to have high self-esteem and above average self-efficacy. However, they are not in a position to receive sufficient amount of educational materials, food and medicine.
In line with these findings of the study, recommendations are forwarded to change the existing Education and Training Policy for possible in a way that include the issues of AIDS orphans and the proper implementation of ESDP statement. It also suggests a systematic & timely data collection of the affected and infected children and teachers from as low as school level to as high up to the Ministry of Education. The paper also proposes a way of sensitizing and capacitating the extended family in order to realize the Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) program; establishing community schools; the use of distance education for AIDS orphans; and organizing AIDS orphans to speak out their mind about their rights.
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
1.1. Background of the Study
Nearly two decades ago, a human catastrophic disease, Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) came into being. The first report of AIDS came from the Centers of Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia (a public health body responsible for investigating epidemics and reports of new or unusual disease in United States) which described the cases of 5 young previously healthy homosexuals who had been treated in Los Angeles hospital for a rare infections of the lungs pneumocystic carinii pneumonia (PCP). ” At the same time in 1981 came reports of 26 previously healthy homosexuals in New York and California who had developed a severe form of a rare malignant cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma. Eight of these patients died within 24 months of diagnosis …” (Daniels, 1987: 1-2).
The first reported case in the United Kingdom, in December 1981, was a 49 year- old homosexual in Bourne Mouth who presented AIDS nine months after returning from Miami. Since then, every country in the world has reported AIDS cases. UNAIDS has estimated that at the end of 1998, 33.4 million people, in the world were living with HIV/AIDS of which 22.5 million or 67% were in Sub-Sahara Africa. This number however increased to 40 million, by the year 2000, of which 90% were in developing countries. The reported deaths from the onset of the epidemic has reached more than 20 million world wide, including almost 3 million children under the age of 15 (UNAIDS, 2002). Parental death to AIDS has resulted in school dropout, labor exploitation, stigma and discrimination of AIDS orphaned children (Afework, Mebratu 2000). Regarding the number of children orphaned by AIDS, the data is frustrating as to UNAIDS report. It says this:
One of the most telling and troubling consequences of the epidemic’s growing reach is the number of children it has orphaned or seriously impacted. Today more than 13 million children currently under age 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, most of them in Sub-Sahara Africa. By 2010, this number is expected to jump to more than 25 million (UNAIDS, 2002: .3)
In Sub-Sahara African countries the infection rate is just in the rise. In addition to death toll, HIV/AIDS is also attributed to poverty. As the death of the most productive section of the population increases due to AIDS, economic deterioration and a decrease in per capita is inevitable. A recent study estimated that Africa’s income growth per capita is being reduced by about 0.7 percent per year because of HIV/AIDS. Had the HIV prevalence not reached 8.6 percent in 1999, African’s income per capita would have grown at 1.1 percent per year – or nearly three times the growth rate of 0.4 percent per year achieved in 1990-1997 (World Bank, 2000 b in UNAIDS, 2001)
The World Bank report further explained the role of AIDS as a cause of poverty and poverty as a contributor to AIDS. The general linkages between AIDS and poverty would be cited as impact indicators that help to portray the effects of AIDS on poverty .Such effects include decrease in growth rate of per capita income, increase in the number of AIDS orphans ,and their corresponding poorer nutrition and lowered school attendance rates, reduction in output and cash income in house holds of an AIDS death, and increases in household out -of-pocket health spendings (UNAIDS, 2001)
The impacts of HIV/AIDS on the education of orphans have been studied in various countries of Africa. Studies in Uganda have shown that following the death of one or both parents, the chance of orphans going to school is halved and those who go to school spend less time there than they did formerly. In another study of high prevalence countries like Central Africa Republic, Cote d’Ivoire and Zambia, AIDS is eroding the supply of teachers,there by increasing class sizes, which in turn is likely to reduce the quality of education.
The negative outcomes of HIV/AIDS to education have been seen from pupil, teacher, and school perspectives.
At the level of the pupil, there have been declines in enrollment, increases in dropouts, and gradual increases in absenteeism. Students who had lost both parents have been less well-dressed and less-well fed. Many students are at risk of exclusion, abuse, discrimination, and stigma (IIEP, 1993; UNAIDS, 2002). UNICEF has recently reviewed the effects being orphan have on schooling and child labor in 20 Sub-Saharan African countries. In all countries, children aged 5-14 who had lost one or both parents were found less likely to be in school and more likely to be working more than 40 hours a week. A National Survey on the Prevalence and Situations of AIDS Orphaned Children in NIGERIA has been conducted in collaboration with children, youth and Family Affairs Department (MOLSA), UNICEF, and an Italian Co-operation (2003), using a total sample size of 2683 children and adults. The income generating activities of both AIDS orphan and non-AIDS orphan children were studied. The data showed that 16% and 21%, respectively were engaged in various economic activities. The finding seem to be contrary to one’s expectations, but due to other supportive data like weak provision of food, high prevalence of begging, and stigma against AIDS orphans, it is highly probable that community members prefer to employ non- AIDS orphans compared to AIDS orphans.
In the same study the educational status of AIDS orphans had been examined and subsequent analyses revealed that 93% of both AIDS orphans and non-AIDS orphans were enrolled in elementary schools once upon a time. But after the death of their mothers or both parents a significant number of them were forced to dropout of school. As the results of the study indicated, 17.7% of non-AIDS orphans dropped out of school compared to 11.9% of AIDS orphans following the death of mother’s. No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups .However, the reasons seem to be to their inability to pay school fees and, buy school uniforms and materials.
A survey of 649 orphaned and 1,239 non-orphaned children in Kenya found out that 52% of orphaned and 27% non-orphaned children were not in school for such reasons(UNAIDS, 2002). Generally, from the above studies one can conclude that the education of AIDS orphaned children is highly threatened, and there is a need of finding a way out to mitigate the problems.
Teachers’ death from HIV/AIDS has resulted in the deterioration of the provision of quality education to both orphans and non-orphaned children. While many countries lack reliable data on AIDS-related deaths and HIV prevalence among teachers, already available evidence points to an increased teacher mortality rate because of HIV/AIDS. The death of one teacher can deprive a whole class of children from having education. As estimated 860,000 children in Sub-Sahara Africa have lost their teachers to AIDS in 1999 (Kelly, 2000d, in World Bank, 2002).
As some studies in some African countries revealed, HIV/AIDS has escalated the shortage of teachers’ supply in schools. A report of the World Bank (2002),for example, has stated that in Central Africa Republic 85 percent of the teachers who died between 1996 and 1998 were HIV positive, and on the average these teachers died 10 years before they were to retire (UNAIDS, 2000a). In Zambia 1,300 teachers died in the first 10 months of 1998, compared to 680 teachers in 1996 (Kelly, 1999). In Kenya teachers’ deaths rose from 450 in 1995 to 1,500 in 1999.In one of Kenya’s eight provinces 20 to 30 teachers die each month from AIDS (Gachuhi, 1999).Besides, HIV/AIDS, has generally resulted in teachers’ absenteeism, and lowered motivation to teach when they feel sick. It has also increased the proportion of untrained teachers, and led to their reluctance to be transferred to, or remain in, heavily affected districts.