AIDS education at school
Schools play a pivotal role in providing AIDS education for young people. Not only do schools have the capacity to reach a large number of young people, but school students are particularly receptive to learning new information. Therefore schools are a well-established point of contact through which young people can receive AIDS education.
At the same time, in many countries HIV and AIDS are significantly weakening the capacity of the education sector, and greater investment in education is vital for the provision of effective HIV prevention for young people.8 9 10 A UNESCO study in 2009 found that in Eastern and Southern Africa, children had 'low levels of knowledge' regarding HIV/AIDS which was attributed to, among other factors, lack of teacher training, lack of examination for students on the topic (and therefore little incentive to teach it) and unease teaching the subject resulting from embarrassment.11
Different approaches to AIDS education at school
Opinion is divided between education providers who take an abstinence-only approach to sex education and those who advocate a more comprehensive approach. Which approach is favoured significantly affects how young people are educated about HIV and AIDS.
Sex education that focuses on abstinence is based on the belief that encouraging young people not to have sex until marriage is the best way to protect against HIV infection. This approach limits AIDS education by not providing information about how young people can protect themselves from HIV infection if and when they do chose to have sex. It is vital for HIV prevention that schools provide comprehensive sex education, which educates about the importance of condom use as well as promoting delayed initiation of sex
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