Education

Education is indispensable for the full development of the person. It plays an important role in reducing stigma and in promoting prevention as well as in providing care, treatment and support for people living with HIV/AIDS. The public availability of scientific, accurate, informational and educational material is vital to the prevention of HIV transmission, linking infected persons with health care and other services and reducing stigma and discrimination often directed at people living with HIV and their families.

“Education of children and youth merits the highest priority in a world afflicted by HIV and AIDS because a good basic education itself ranks among the most effective and cost effective means of HIV prevention”- EDUCATION AND HIV/AIDS; a window of hope, 2002 the world bank
The Children’s Act in Section 7 provides that every child has a right to education. This is irrespective of the HIV status of the child. The government and parents are responsible for ensuring the attainment of the child’s right to education.

Further, Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child entitles every child to free and compulsory education.

Persons employed in child care agencies, including adoption and foster care homes should be educated in order to enable them to deal effectively with the special needs of HIV infected children including their right to protection from mandatory testing, discrimination and abandonment.

The Children’s Act says everyone has the right to basic education. Free basic education is compulsory in accordance with Article 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. If a child is stopped from going to school because of his or her HIV status, this is unlawful and can be challenged in court.

The HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act states that no educational institution shall deny admission or expel, discipline, segregate, deny participation in any event or activity, or deny any benefits or services to a person on the grounds only of the person’s actual, perceived or suspected HIV status.

Section 5 of the HACPA obligates the ministry of education to avail information about –causes, modes of transmission and ways of preventing HIV /AIDS transmission and other sexually transmitted diseases through subjects taught in public and private schools at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Education and information on HIV/AIDS prevention and control should also be provided to employees of all government ministries department, authorities and other agencies including those in the private and informal sectors. Such information should cover issues such as confidentiality in the work place and attitudes towards infected employees and workers. All this is provided under section 7 of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act.

The education of health care providers is paramount especially as concerns HIV/AIDS –related ethical issues such as confidentiality, informed consent and the duty to provide treatment.
The general public is to be made aware through the initiative of the central government as well as local authorities as is provided under sections 4 and 8 of the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act respectively. Such information should include causes, modes of transmission and control of HIV/AIDS. Stigma and discrimination of PLWHAs should be discouraged at all costs.

Informational and educational materials should be widely accessible to all persons to ensure effective dissemination. Further, such information should be available in a language that is understood by the target community and is respectful to cultural tradition.

It is in light of this that the Aids Law Project undertook a project to provide a simplified version of the HIV and Aids Prevention and Control Act Of 2006, which is in a language that is easily understood. The simplified publication is available to the public.

We further propose that the government guarantees access to this information and disseminates it as a collaborative effort made between itself and NGOS, multinational organizations, and local secular and religious groups.

Right to Sexuality education

Sexuality education means teaching young people about the human body, the changes that their bodies go through when they are teenagers and how to respond to feelings for another person. Young people also learn what sex is, the different sexual choices one can make, how babies are made, and why and how to use condoms and other contraceptives. Sexuality education includes teaching about safer sexual practices to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

HIV and AIDS policies in schools

The HIV Prevention and Control Act stipulates that there shall be policies related to HIV introduced in schools. Section 5 states that the Ministry responsible for education, utilizing official information provided by the Ministry, shall integrate instruction on the causes, modes of transmission and ways of preventing HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases in subjects taught in public and private schools at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, including formal, non formal and indigenous learning systems.

Every school should have an AIDS policy to ensure the creation of a non-discriminatory and caring learning environment. It should include guidelines on:

• Non-discrimination on grounds of a person’s HIV status
• Admission policy
• HIV testing
• Prevention of HIV transmission
• Management of HIV and AIDS

The Children’s Act provides that no child shall be subjected to discrimination on the ground of origin, sex, religion, creed, custom, language, opinion, conscience, colour, birth, social, political, economic or other status, race, disability, tribe, residence or local connection.