6.2 Learners’ Experiences of the HIV and AIDS Curriculum
6.2.2 HIV and AIDS curriculum as inadequate
A second opinion of the learners about the programme was that while the information that the learners received from the HIV and AIDS education curriculum was important, in several ways it was inadequate and did not address all their concerns and life challenges as young people. To illustrate,
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they cited the teachers’ silence about important issues such as sexual desire, sexual intercourse, sexual and reproductive health and same sex desire or homosexuality which are included in the syllabus on HIV and AIDS. From the story-telling activity, the findings are that the student handbook for Life Skills Education does not mention anything about condoms or about sexual desire. This is similar to Motalingoane -Khau’s (2010) findings that the HIV and AIDS curriculum has no section which deals with pleasurable sexuality and desire but paints a scary picture of sex and sexuality for children and young people.
Surprisingly, one learner also complained about the curriculum’s (and teachers’) silence on same sex sexuality and desire:
Again, the content is one sided in that it addresses boys’ and girls’ issues while it says nothing about those who struggle with same sex feelings, for example, how I can control my sexual desire and my love feelings towards other boys. Educators always focus their talks on boys and girls and never mention boys and boys’ or girls and girls’ relationships and I get bored (Thabo, 27 September, 2013).
In a cultural and religious context that frowns upon homosexuality and silences any talk about it, Thabo’s reference to, and strong views about the silencing of homosexuality in the curriculum was surprising, particularly for a young person of school going age. There are various possible explanations for this. One could be the methodologies that I engaged the learners in for collecting data for this study. For example, in the story-telling sessions, which included letter writing and short stories, I asked the learners to use pseudonyms to ensure that they remained anonymous. I put a box in which they could anonymously put their letters in a strategic location in the school. I later collected
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the letters and short stories. It is my view that this allowed the learners to reflect freely on their experiences, including those that could be labelled as negative or painful. Thus, from the learners’
perspectives, the HIV and AIDS curriculum was inadequate, particularly in addressing the issues that are often taboo and not spoken about, especially between adults (teachers) and children. As argued in this thesis, the sensitivity of these issues stems from the traditions and the culture of Basotho. This has implications for curriculum content and pedagogy, including how teachers address these in their classrooms and how the learners understand and respond to them.
Further, some of the learners indicated that if they were to apply the knowledge that they received from the programme in their lives, they would lose their status and benefits from those who are more powerful in their lives. These included their boyfriends and girlfriends who supported them with money and other material benefits (for example, the so-called ‘sugar daddies’ and ‘sugar mummies’
provided material benefits). The girls stated that they were worried that the HIV and AIDS education does not help them in their expected role as women who are brought up to be married and bear children. One learner commented:
The HIV and AIDS education does not help prepare me for my role as a woman who will bear children but instead it stresses me with a lot of restrictions such as condom use which put my relationship at risk. My boyfriend would not agree to the use of condoms. This might result in a beating and being dumped or I may even lose the gifts he usually gives me. When I get married, I have to bear grand-children for the family. Condom can prevent this from happening (Thandiwe, 27 September, 2013).
For this learner, the knowledge provided in school was not relevant to her needs as a member of a family and community and a future wife. For example, she hints at what is often referred to as the
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‘sugar-daddy’ phenomenon in the literature. In South Africa, The Sowetan newspaper (Thursday, 14 March 2013) reported that at least 28% of school girls were HIV positive compared to 4% of their male counterparts. This, according to the country's Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, was linked to the so-called ‘sugar-daddy’ phenomenon, where young girls date older men. Further, at a public meeting in South Africa's Mpumalanga province, Dr Motsoaledi reportedly declared that, "It is clear that it is not young boys who are sleeping with these girls. It is old men. We must take a stand against sugar daddies because they are destroying our children" (The Sowetan newspaper, Thursday, 14 March 2013, p.1) According to him, 94,000 school girls had fallen pregnant in 2011, with around 77 000 having terminated the pregnancy at public health facilities in South Africa. In response, the Minister reported the launch of a R3 billion project to ‘wean’ young women off sugar daddies, as one of its strategies for stopping the spread of HIV and reducing teenage pregnancy (Chatel, May 19, 2016).
These findings suggest that there is a need for the review of the Life Skill Education syllabus to include the issues that would help learners in dealing with the challenges that they face in their lives.
Beyond the ABC messages for example, such a curriculum could provide life skills that include income generation so as to avoid and prevent young people’s dependence on sugar daddies and mummies which are likely to expose them to HIV infection. I discuss these in more detail in Chapter Seven.