T h r e e d i m e n s i o n s

T h r e e d i m e n s i o n s
Mainstreaming implies that the concerns of
CABA need to be part of education sector plans and
policies for HIV and AIDS and other sector reform
documents to ensure that the rights of all children,
including the specifi c needs of CABA, are taken into
account. This includes the right to education (access),
rights within education (provision of services) and
rights through education (outcomes). We review
below what each of these means in practice.
RIGHT TO EDUCATION – implies a strong
commitment to getting all children to school
and keeping them there
Supporting the EFA goals is critical to ensuring that
all children have access to education. Policies to
reduce costs of schooling will have a positive impact
on children affected by HIV and AIDS. In countries
with universal free primary education, enrolments
have increased permitting access to schooling for
orphans, poverty-affected learners and girls who were
previously unable to attend school. Efforts to reduce
indirect fees, including tuition, textbooks, compulsory
uniforms and other costs have had the same positive
effect on access to schooling by CABA.
RIGHTS WITHIN EDUCATION – implies
protecting and keeping children safe and
healthy whilst at school
Schools have an important role to play in minimising
the impact of the epidemic on children. They can:
Provide a sense of community and contribute to
the socialisation of children.
Identify children made vulnerable by HIV and
AIDS.
Provide or ensure referral to psycho-social support
and counselling.
Identify children with specifi c vulnerabilities and address
these.
Monitor the status and well-being of children.
Provide access to gender-sensitive and childfriendly
health and nutrition services.
Provide after-school supervision for those who
have no other adult supervisors.
To respond to such multiple challenges, it is benefi cial
to have coordinating policies, linking a CABA-sensitive
curriculum with protective and enabling environments
and community services. Such comprehensive
frameworks are refl ected in models such as Child-
Friendly Schools/Schools for learning plus, Health
Promoting Schools and FRESH. An overview of these
models is found at the end of this tool.
RIGHTS THROUGH EDUCATION – ensuring that
children leave school empowered with life skills
Schools as learning institutions can provide children
with life skills education that increases their potential
for critical thinking and decision-making, coping
with loss and living with HIV, communication and
negotiation skills and empathy. It is also critical to
ensure that the education system delivers high
quality learning opportunities that give children the
knowledge, attitudes and skills that they need to
understand their environment, to interact with others,
and to lead productive and healthy lives in general.
C r i t i c a l e l e m e n t s
f o r e f f e c t i v e n e s s
In each of these three areas, action can be taken to
meet the rights of CABA. Below is a selection of the
most important measures for each of the areas where
CABA rights need to be mainstreamed.
Critical elements for meeting CABA rights to
and needs for education:
Ensuring EFA and supporting abolition of school
fees and indirect education costs.
Targeting interventions to reduce non-fee costs,
including opportunity costs, through bursaries,
loans, community grants, in-school meals or supplementary
food assistance for households, etc.
Supporting community networks that: identify
CABA; support them to go to school; provide family-
like environments and care and support for orphans
and child-headed households.
Expanding fl exible access and alternatives to quality
education, including non-formal approaches,
fl exible instruction hours, and acceleration and
catch-up programmes.
Establishing quality community-based early childhood
care and education, which promote early
identifi cation of and quality care and support for
vulnerable young children.