Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
 |
New Vision (Kampala) - September 15, 2003
No comprehensive study has ever been done to find the approximate number of teachers and students succumbing to the disease annually, how this affects the teaching and learning process and how much HIV/AIDS-related factors have contributed to school drop out.
It was against this background that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) commissioned a study to generate data and find out the actual impact of the epidemic on the education sector.
The action research, going on concurrently in Tanzania and Malawi as well aims at generating data for strategic interventions in mitigating the impact of the disease on administrators, teachers, students and pupils.
Yusuf Nsubuga, the education ministry's HIV/AIDS sector co-ordinator said the research will help the ministry in strategic planning for teacher recruitment and putting in place a policy framework to integrate HIV/AIDS education at all levels of the sector.
"Today, there is a ban on teacher recruitment in secondary schools. "May be if we come up with accurate data on the mortality rate, we would work out a replacement strategy," said Nsubuga who is also the commissioner for secondary education.
The project lead consultant, Dr. Jackson Amone said during the research launch at Hotel Equatoria last month that the study, under UNESCO's research and training arm, the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), will be done in five phases.
He said the first study which ends this month assessed the impact of HIV/AIDS on educational policy, leadership and systems and the second will look at the impact of the disease on governance and management of the sector.
Amone, whose research associate is Paul Bukuluki of Makerere University faculty of social sciences said the third study will explore the epidemic's impact on enrolment, attendance and instruction in selected districts.
The fourth stage will examine the HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in schools, factors that contribute to its spread including poverty and issues of coerced and consensual sex among instructors and learners.
The last phase will look at the impact of HIV/AIDS on tertiary education.
The research is supposed to come up with recommendations for policy responses and activities for prevention and mitigating the impact of the disease on the sector. The studies are also expected to allow the identification of pilot programmes in the areas of prevention.
The research is definitely well conceived with good aims and objectives. But several questions are already being raised on the quality of data and information it will generate because conflict areas have been left out and the sample districts are few.
Amone said the first phase of the study was only done in Kampala, Mukono, Mubende, Iganga, Kyenjojo, Kasese and Kumi.
He, however, said more districts would be sampled. Amone also disclosed that IIEP had asked them to avoid conflict areas in accordance with UN regulations.
However, Dorothy Hyuha, the chairperson parliamentary committee on social services says the research results will be meaningless if conflict areas and districts like Rakai, where HIV/AIDS was first detected in Uganda were left out.
"If we don't see districts in conflict areas and districts such as Rakai, we shall not take that research seriously. Without some of those areas, your research will have a question mark," Hyuha said during the research launch at Hotel Equatoria.
Hyuha also said so many researches have been done but ended up in shelves and doubted whether this would be different. "So after this research what next?" she asked.
IIEP had wanted the research done only in three districts but the idea was rejected by the Ministry of Education.
"The ministry said it was useless to invest in such a small sample area," said Yusuf Nsubuga, the ministry's HIV/AIDS sector co-ordinator.
Nsubuga also added his voice to that of Carol Opok, UN World Food Programme and the ministry's technical advisor of HIV/AIDS, Catherine Barasa that it would be disastrous to leave out conflict areas. They urged the researchers to devise ways of collecting data from such areas.
"At one point we were told Gulu had the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the country due to the 17-year old insurgency. So to ignore such an area is a disaster," Nsubuga said.
030915
NV030908
Copyright © 2003 - The New Vision. All articles are republished on AEGIS by permission. Material may not be redistributed, posted to any other location, published or used for broadcast without written authorization from Managing Director/Editor-in-chief, The New Vision, P.O. Box 9815, Kampala - Uganda, Tel/fax: 256-41-235221, E-mail: wpike@newvision.co.ug.
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Elton John AIDS Foundation, iMetrikus, Inc., John M. Lloyd Foundation, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 2003. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .