San Francisco Chronicle - Monday, August 6, 2001
Lucy Jones, Chronicle Foreign Service

"She caught it from one of the teachers. Lots of girls sleep with their teachers. They do it to pass exams," shrugged Nadine.

Two of Rita Asana's school friends died of AIDS. They were just 17. If a girl sleeps with a teacher, Rita says, "You might get favoritism, but you get a bad reputation." She made no mention of the risk of HIV infection.

Five girls at Miskine High School, which has 4,000 students, died last year from complications of AIDS. Although teachers say it is impossible to know from whom the pupils contracted the virus, they suspect that staff members spread the disease.

"Girls often come to school without eating and without proper clothing," said Francoise Nboma, head of the English department. "They see their teacher as someone to help them. Many parents want their daughters to marry teachers, so they encourage their children to have relationships with them, and the staff don't refuse."

AIDS is the leading cause of death among teachers in the Central African Republic (CAR), according to UNICEF, which studied the deaths of 300 teachers around the country last year and found that 85 percent had died from AIDS. And research by UNAIDS suggests that by 2005, between 25 percent and 50 percent of all teachers in the country will have died from AIDS.

Frightening as these statistics are in themselves, they have even wider repercussions for the society. The average age that girls begin sexual activity is 15, says Adjibad Karimou of UNICEF's office in Bangui, "and their first partner is often their teacher. The very people upon whom we rely to teach pupils how to protect themselves against AIDS are often the ones passing on the virus."

Even children in primary school have contracted the virus from their teachers.

In some villages, HIV infection is cited as the main reason that female students fail to finish their education. Male students have not encountered the same problem because they usually bribe their teachers with beer and cigarettes rather than with sex.

Many teachers say they wish they could prevent relationships between pupils and staff, but it's difficult because the practice is ingrained in the educational system.

At the University of Bangui, a number of female undergraduates have contracted the virus from their tutors.

"In certain courses, if a female student is beautiful, she won't stand a chance of graduating unless she sleeps with her professor," said literature student Oliver Nyirabugara.

LIMITED MONEY FOR AIDS

Safe-sex campaigns are rare in high schools. Rather than offering education programs, the Health Ministry concentrates the AIDS spending in its meager budget of $7 million on treating infected workers and pregnant women with HIV to prevent them from passing the virus to their newborn children.

More than 13 percent of the population between ages 17 and 30 are thought to carry the virus that causes AIDS, according to the Ministry of Health. In certain sectors, the figures are much higher; for instance, more than 70 percent of soldiers are believed to be HIV-positive. U.N. agencies estimate that it would cost $12 million to $17 million to curb the spread of HIV infection and care for victims.

While the rate of infection in the CAR pales in comparison with South Africa, where nearly 25 percent of adults are HIV-positive, it exceeds the rates of surrounding countries. For example, Cameroon reports an HIV incidence of 7.3 percent, the Republic of Congo's is 6.4 percent and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) has a 5.7 percent rate.

COMMERCE AND WAR

Experts offer a number of reasons for the this country's AIDS epidemic. Some say the war in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo has shifted international commerce, and the sex trade that often follows it, to the Central African Republic.

"Central Africa is the crossroads for commerce . . . for river traffic as well as trucker traffic, so along the main roads we're finding a much greater rate of HIV infection," says Timothy Betoni, director of U.S.-based Population Services International.

Mutinies by the CAR military in 1996 and 1997, which brought an influx of international peacekeeping groups and an explosion of prostitution, also stoked the country's HIV rate. A coup attempt on May 28, when a rebellious army unit opened fire on the villa of President Ange-Felix Patasse, has diverted the government's attention from AIDS prevention programs.

Although the connection between teachers and student deaths from AIDS is no secret, the government would be hard-pressed to dismiss teachers or professors because of a severe staffing shortage. The death of so many teachers from AIDS led to the closure of 107 educational establishments between 1996 and 1998, and the remaining schools have had to merge classes in order to handle all the abandoned students.

Last year, Miskine High School saw the death of its history, German, biology and geography teachers from complications of AIDS. Patrice Tolmbaye, headmaster of the school, said, "Every year we're seeing three or four teachers die of AIDS. Classes are now in excess of 150 pupils, and teachers are working longer hours."

With half the country's teaching posts now empty, only 60 percent of the CAR's children are receiving an education.

Finding new staff is nearly impossible. Teachers and professors are paid only about $100 a month, when they are paid at all. Because the government is strapped for cash, they are now owed a total of 25 months' salary -- 12 months from the regime of the former premier, Andre Kolingba, and 13 months from the present administration. In the meantime, they do anything necessary to survive, from selling homegrown vegetables to taking bribes in return for passing students in exams.

In some rural areas, which have seen the death or desertion of all their teachers, parents have started running the schools themselves. The community schools receive assistance from UNICEF, but they are few and far between. Some teachers are trying to address the AIDS crisis in the schools by changing attitudes.

"Female teachers are increasingly warning the girls against having sexual relations with their teachers," said teacher Francoise Nboma. "We're even telling male teachers that they need to regard the girls as their own children, not simply as pupils."

CONDOM DISTRIBUTION

To fight the spread of AIDS, Population Services International will begin distributing 3 million condoms at discounted prices throughout the country this week. As part of the project, health workers will visit schools, other institutions and public places to preach safe sex to teachers as well as pupils.

But much more needs to be done, say experts. "We're still at the stage in the CAR where the majority of people think AIDS is caused by evil spirits," Betoni said.

"AIDS is having a huge impact on our education system and our entire society," said Elois Anguimate, the minister of education. "Nobody can really imagine what the future holds for us."

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