69ý

Education

International

June 05, 2002 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

AIDS Impact

Teachers in Africa are dying of AIDS faster than replacements can be hired, crippling efforts to enroll all children in primary school by 2015 in some nations, a recent World Bank report warns.

In “Education and HIV/AIDS: A Window of Hope,” the World Bank urges countries to bolster their education systems to serve as a “vaccine” to halt the spread of the virus that causes AIDS and to decrease illiteracy.

More than 113 million children ages 6 to 12 don’t attend school in developing countries worldwide. Meanwhile, 28 of the world’s poorest countries are also among the worst hit by HIV/AIDS.

View the report from the . (Requires .)

“HIV/AIDS is compromising the ability for countries to achieve universal basic education,” Donald Bundy, the report’s lead author, said at a news conference in Washington last month.

As the World Bank labors to encourage countries to lessen the international education gap by ensuring all citizens receive at least five years of schooling, the report says the ravages of AIDS threaten to dismantle progress in achieving that goal.

In Africa, the percentage of teachers infected with the virus is startling in some places. More than 30 percent of teachers in parts of Malawi and Uganda are HIV-positive. About 19 percent of Zambian teachers have the virus, with about 1,000 dying annually. (“AFT Aims to Enlist African Teachers in War on AIDS,” Aug. 8, 2001.)

Still, Mr. Bundy, who also is a World Bank specialist on school health, pointed out that teacher deaths are not the disease’s lone impact on education. High teacher-absentee rates, because instructors typically are sick for almost a decade before dying, also leave schools without educators or substitutes.

In the worst-affected countries in Africa, “one finds schools which are empty or schools with one teacher and several hundred students,” Mr. Bundy said.

Identifying people with the basic education necessary to become teachers is challenging. Zambia, for example, is trying to keep pace by training 2,000 new teachers annually—roughly double the number killed there by the disease, Mr. Bundy said.

As adults are dying, he added, more children are being orphaned at the “fastest rate known ever in peacetime.” HIV/AIDS has orphaned 13 million children worldwide.

Among the strategies the World Bank outlines to respond to the impact of the virus on teaching are an expansion of in-service training; lower professional requirements for teachers; and recruitment of teachers from nontraditional fields.

—Karla Scoon Reid kreid@epe.org

A version of this article appeared in the June 05, 2002 edition of Education Week

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69ý
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: October 2, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: September 18, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 28, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read