How is HIV-related education delivered in schools in the Asia-Pacific region? Where and at what age does the curriculum address HIV/AIDS? Research in 11 countries shows an emphasis on biological rather than social factors and neglect of the subject in primary schools.

Schools seem like good places in which to give young people the knowledge and skills to protect themselves against HIV. But which methods work best? Researchers from the University of New South Wales in Australia and the UK’s Institute of Education looked at HIV/AIDS education policy and practice in Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Postal questionnaires and interviews revealed that:

• China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Thailand have the most comprehensive policies relating to HIV/AIDS education in schools.
• National policy usually spreads HIV-related knowledge across a number of subject areas, integrating it into biology, science and health studies, for example. The major focus is in the senior years in secondary school.
• Didactic teaching remains the major form of sex-related education. Skills-based learning is being introduced but is not always implemented in practice.
• Abstinence and fidelity are stressed. But in Thailand and Cambodia, where the epidemic is more serious, sex education tends to be more detailed and explicit.
• No primary curriculum mentions sexual relations. Most societies consider explicit sexual talk to primary students to be inappropriate. But in many countries, the majority of students do not go on to secondary school.
• Teacher training on HIV/AIDS tends to be short term and in-service. Only Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam run pre-service training on these issues.

There are cultural barriers to discussing sex. For example, it may be inappropriate for a single male teacher to talk to female students or for a single female teacher to raise the subject of sex. Alternatives include using outside speakers, although this makes understanding difficult, or setting up camps to deliver skills-based sexual and reproductive health education.

The authors recommend that policy-makers should:

• reassess the age at which sexual and reproductive health is taught to students and the range of subjects covered
• encourage collaboration between education and health ministries
• introduce peer education in places where it is difficult to explore controversial subjects in the classroom
• take into account cultural norms governing male and female sexual behaviour and recognise that dominant social and moral values may not effectively promote HIV sexual health awareness among different sub-groups and populations within countries.

Several questions remain. How well can teachers used to didactic methods deliver a skills-based curriculum? Are they willing and able to talk about the content of HIV/AIDS curricula? Does classroom discussion cover content that does not appear in curricula, such as condom use? What is the most successful way to develop policy and curriculum in this field?

Source(s):
‘HIV/AIDS school-based education in selected Asia-Pacific countries’, Sex Education Vol. 3, No. 1: (pp3-21), by G. Smith, S. Kippax, P. Aggleton and P. Tyrer, April 2003

Funded by: UNAIDS

id21 Research Highlight: 2 December 2003

Further Information:
Gary Smith
National Centre in HIV Social Research
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Webster Building
University of New South Wales
Sydney
NSW 2052
Australia

Contact the contributor: gary.smith@unsw.edu.au

National Centre in HIV Social Research, University of New South Wales, Australia

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'Shock to the system – HIV and education in Kenya and Tanzania'

'Deadly silence: barriers to communicating HIV/AIDS in schools'

'Friends in deed – preventing HIV through peer education in South African schools'

'Teaching AIDS: student teachers learn about HIV in Zimbabwe'

'Clearing up confusion: peer-led AIDS education in Zambia'

'Knowledge is power - AIDS education for Ugandan schoolchildren'