‘Business as usual’ will not meet the education challenges of the HIV epidemic in Mozambique and South Africa. Governments must radically rethink education delivery to out-of-school youth. Research by the UK Institute of Education looks at how open, distance and flexible learning (ODFL) can reduce the effects of HIV on young people.

The HIV emergency in southern Africa threatens development, social cohesion, political stability, food security, life expectancy and economic growth. Communities and the education sector are reaching the limits of their capacity to cope with the needs of children affected by HIV. ODFL has the potential to:

• increase access to education
• improve quality of schooling (and thereby child survival and family health)
• raise public awareness and advocacy for health initiatives
• spread health information and encourage healthy behaviours.

How should governments further develop ODFL to help meet the needs of affected youth? This study examines HIV/AIDS ODFL initiatives in Mozambique and South Africa. Document reviews, case studies and qualitative field data, including interviews and discussions with informants and young people reveal that:

• In both countries the Education Ministries focus on delivering basic education through schools, by developing HIV/AIDS and life-skills curricula and training teachers. There is little provision for increasing numbers of children who cannot attend school.
• In South Africa, ODFL primarily relies on television campaigns and media strategies, such as Soul City, loveLife and Khomanani. These produce better knowledge, awareness and attitudes about HIV/AIDS and, to a lesser degree, behaviour change.
• South African universities have developed specialised distance education initiatives for training and development of education, health, counselling and HIV/AIDS professionals.
• In Mozambique, major government HIV/AIDS programmes (My Future My Choice and Geração Biz) use mostly face-to-face delivery and train peer educators to reach out-of-school youth. Geração Biz also uses a range of ODFL materials.
• Mozambique’s Secondary Education through Distance Education (SEDE) project is developing a set of ODFL materials for out-of-school youth.

The study found that HIV/AIDS-affected young people need more opportunity to develop literacy skills and undertake vocational training. They are most easily reached by radio and particularly like to learn through music, drama and stories.

The authors conclude that to confront AIDS and meet Millennium Development Goals in countries with high HIV rates, governments must transform the education system to deliver education more flexibly and to empower young people to help move their communities towards the post-AIDS era. They recommend using ODFL to:

• deliver the national curriculum to those out of school
• promote critical thinking, positive group identity and solidarity among young people
• develop, coordinate and disseminate the knowledge base on HIV/AIDS at the national level
• improve teachers’ ability to empathise with young people affected by HIV/AIDS and provide psychosocial guidance and counselling
• give young heads of households access to information, psychosocial support, training on business skills and careers counselling.

Source(s):
‘The Role of Open, Distance and Flexible Learning (ODFL) in HIV/AIDS Prevention and Mitigation for Affected Youth in South Africa and Mozambique’, UK Department for International Development Educational Papers, Researching the Issues 61, DFID: London, by Pat Pridmore and Chris Yates, 2006 Full document.
‘Combating AIDS in South Africa and Mozambique: the Role of Open, Distance, and Flexible Learning (ODFL)’, Comparative Education Review 49(4), pages 490-511, by Pat Pridmore and Chris Yates, 2005 Full document.

Funded by: UK Department for International Development

id21 Research Highlight: 9 February 2007

Further Information:
Pat Pridmore and Chris Yates
Lifelong Education and International Development
Institute of Education
University of London
London
WC1H 0AL
UK

Tel: +44 (0)207 612 6601
Fax: +44 (0)207 612 6632
Contact the contributor: p.pridmore@ioe.ac.uk

Institute of Education, University of London, UK

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