Part Two: Policy Analysis of the National HIV/AIDS School Policy and the National Integrated Plan on Life Skills and HIV/AIDS. CHAPTER SIX: UNDERSTANDING THE INSTITUTIONAL DYNAMICS OF LIFE SKILLS, HIV/AIDS EDUCATION PROGRAM IN.
PART ONE
CHAPTER ONE: ABOUT THE RESEARCH
Investigate the extent to which 74 secondary schools in the eThekwini region were aware of the National HIV/AIDS School Policy. There is a gap between awareness of the National HIV/AIDS School Policy (Department of Education, Government Gazette 1926 or 1999) in schools and the practical implementation of the policy (Burns 2002, Jansen 1999, Moletsane et al. 2002, Van Rensburg et al. 2002; Sewpaul and Raniga 2005).
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
It is clear that the status of the social work profession and the role of social workers in developmental welfare in contemporary South Africa is controversial. A list of these universal precautions is set out in section 7 of the National HIV/AIDS Policy (Department of Education 1999).
PART TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER TWO: HIV/AIDS GLOBALLY, IN AFRICA AND SOUTH AFRICA
An audit of the implementation of the National HIV/AIDS School Policy (Sewpaul and Raniga 2005) also revealed that teachers lack the necessary skills to teach sexuality and HIV/AIDS programs in the classroom (chapter seven of this thesis discusses this challenge further). One of the most daunting development challenges facing our young democracy in South Africa is the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
CHAPTER THREE: ADDRESSING THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF YOUTH TO HIV INFECTION: PROGRAMMES AND POLICY
AS A FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION
One of the principles central to successful HIV/AIDS prevention is that of youth participation. It is therefore clear that the transmission of HIV/AIDS information and prevention programs are not enough to stop the spread of the epidemic among young people. Adolescents in the study supported the idea of using condoms as an important HIV/AIDS prevention strategy.
The study concluded that there was no significant difference in knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS between the two groups. Providing treatment, care and support to young people living with HIV/AIDS is not only a basic human right, but also essential to successful prevention programs.
Young People and
The diagram below shows these six components as a holistic and integrated approach to HIV/AIDS prevention and success.
AIDS
SECTION TWO: POLICY ANALYSIS OF THE NATIONAL HIV/AIDS SCHOOL POLICY AND THE NATIONAL INTEGRATED PLAN'S L1FE SKILLS AND HIV/AIDS EDUCATION PROGRAM. It is clear that life skills and HIV/AIDS education implemented in schools is a tangible outcome of both the policy and the NIP document. Implementation of both the national policy and program on life skills and HIV/AIDS is a provincial responsibility.
The National School-based policy requires integration of life skills education with sexuality and HIV/AIDS education in the school curriculum. Curriculum 2005, implementation of Outcomes Based Education (Department of Education 1997) includes life skills, sexuality and HIV/AIDS as one of the eight learning areas of Life Orientation.
PART THREE: THE RESEARCH STRATEGY
CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Workshops were conducted with ninth grade students to understand their experiences and perceptions of the Life Skills, HIV/AIDS education program. All schools selected for the evaluation of the life skills and HIV/AIDS program were part of the larger sample in the first phase of the study. Explore the challenges officials face in coordinating and implementing the Ministry of Education's life skills and HIV/AIDS education program.
In addition, one in-depth interview was conducted with the national coordinator of the life skills and HIV/AIDS education program in schools. At the urban formal school, the duration of the workshop was 55 minutes (one period in the school timetable).
PART FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE: FINDINGS FROM THE QUANTITATIVE AUDIT UNDERTAKEN IN SCHOOLS
Firstly, to investigate the extent to which secondary schools in the eThekwini region were aware of the National HIV/AIDS Schools Policy. From this extensive research, the findings show a substantial increase in awareness of the National HIV/AIDS School Policy. This finding is similar to the findings from the preliminary study (Sewpaul and Raniga 2005), in which school principals complained about the lack of institutional capacity (staff, time, role of the Ministry of Education, time and finance).
One of the tangible objectives of the National HIV/AIDS School Policy on HIV/AIDS (Department of Education 1999) was safety in the school environment. Of the six schools, four of the cases were concentrated in formal urban areas.
CHAPTER SIX: UNDERSTANDING THE INSTITUTIONAL DYNAMICS OF THE LIFE-SKILLS, HIV/AIDS EDUCATION
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
Lack of Inter-departmental Collaboration within the Department of Education
This thematic grouping focused on inter-governmental dynamics and the relationships between levels and branches of government and how this shaped and influenced the coordination of the life skills and HIV/AIDS education program in secondary schools in the eThekwini region. The national coordinator spoke of the difficulty of dealing with a lack of basic facilities such as larger classroom sizes, access to water, the need for more classrooms to accommodate an increasing learner population in both urban informal and the rural areas (historically disadvantaged schools) . . This has an impact on the overall management and coordination of the life skills, HIV/AIDS program implemented at schools (access to resources and support to sustain the program at schools) on the part of the Department of Education.
The participants in this current study were of the opinion that not enough is being done by central and provincial government to ensure that sufficient resources are in place to operationalize the life skills, HIV/AIDS programme. The challenge is to get government departments to be allies of the poor rather than allies of the rich and powerful.
Intra-departmental Relations
Political Influences
District coordinators cited the example of controversial decisions made within the department regarding the 'problematic' location of a life skills and HIV/AIDS education program in the Department of Education's Psychological Guidance Special Education Services (PGSES). section of the curriculum, as has been the trend in other provinces. Furthermore, the views expressed by the National Coordinator and District Coordinators reveal that people in positions of power at the provincial level (KZN DoE) had a great influence on the location of the life skills, HIV/AIDS program and its implementation process. With the rise of neoliberalism emphasized in South Africa's macroeconomic policies, the role of the state in service provision is diminishing.
The national coordinator was of the opinion that: "the political implication of these decisions cannot be ignored". Clearly, the discussion reflects that there is a close connection between political factors and the 'fuzzy' relationship between central and provincial government and this has a systemic effect on the institutional arrangements of the programme, which will be addressed in the next section.
Institutional Challenges
- Budgetary challenges
At the time of the interview with the district coordinators and the national coordinator in June 2004, there were two district coordinators employed for each region (6 in total). In an interview with the National Program Coordinator in June 2004, she shared that "the NIP program started in April 2000 when people from the national Department of Education, Health and Welfare came to the province to announce the National Integrated Plan". The distribution of the NIP grant is evaluated in relation to the infection rate of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in KZN.
In the interview with the national coordinator of the project, she stated that the program started in KwaZulu-Natal in April 2000 when "people from the National Department of Education, Health and Social Development came down to the province to announce the implementation of the NIP, we encountered a lot of problems in accessing funds and programme". According to the National Coordinator of the NIP project, KwaZulu-Natal received a "larger share because we have the largest number of schools and the largest number of pupils".
Training of Educators
- Number of Educators Trained in eThekwini Region
- The choice of the cascading model to train educators
- Challenges experienced by educators
Furthermore, 14 (that's 56%) of the 25 schools that had a trained pedagogue were from rural areas. Furthermore, the national coordinator of the program (interview conducted on 24 April 2003) revealed that the Ministry of Education had difficulties in monitoring, supporting and assisting in the implementation of the programme. An expectation for a successful implementation of the cascade model is that trained trainers share the information with the rest of the staff.
It was important to establish whether the 61 educators (see Table 10) who attended the Department of Education's training workshops shared this information with the rest of the staff. 34; many of the teachers who attend the training sessions do not share this information with the rest of the staff'.
The need for institutional based support systems
The National Coordinator acknowledged that this part of the Ministry of Education's HIV/AIDS life skills program had been neglected. This chapter documented the views of the KwaZulu-Natal district coordinators and the national coordinator of the NIP program. The discussion provided insight into the institutional dynamics of the NIP program in KwaZulu-Natal.
The findings of this phase of the study confirmed that there is a lack of institutional capacity at school level to deal adequately with the problem of HIV/AIDS. This is due to the lack of resources and institutional capacity in rural schools to deal with the problem of HIV/AIDS.
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE VIEWS OF GRADE NINE LEARNERS AND PARENTS ON THE LIFE-SKILLS AND HIV/AIDS
EDUCATION PROGRAMME
Appraising the Content of the Life-skills and HIV/AIDS Education Programme Taught in the Classroom
- Positive Lessons Learnt
- Parents Share their Views
- Taking the Life-skills Programme Beyond the Classroom
- Institutional Factors Impacting the Implementation of the Life-skills, HIV/AIDS Programme
In general, students had a very positive view of the inclusion of life skills and HIV/AIDS programs in the school curriculum. Instead, parents supported effective sexuality education in school, such as the implementation of the Life Skills and HIV/AIDS programme. This leads to a discussion of the topic area on the transfer of the life skills program outside the classroom.
Here, learners expressed disappointment about the infrastructural problems that had an impact on the quality of the life skills, HIV/AIDS education program taught to them in the classroom. The table clearly shows that the majority of the schools in the sample (41) spent up to two hours a week on the programme.
