HIV/AIDS education should be addressed in schools

HIV/AIDS should be reinforced and taught in schools in Rwanda to raise awareness of the dangers involved in one acquiring the virus. The government has prioritised education of girls as a way of improving the social and economic well-being of the entire community. Once children in schools are taught the dangers of AIDS, it helps them achieve basic life skills. The teaching of the subject should be taught in schools at all levels. The subject is covered in science studies where it starts in primary five and six and yet the youth are too demanding these days. In the olden days children were too green about nature but these days you find that what is in their brains surpasses what the elders know as regards life and sexuality. Life skills manuals encourage the teaching to begin as early as possible because of the dangers created by the vast use of technology where there is so much exposure on the internet. It is good that children can put technology to use but there are some dangers related. The subject must be taught in classes, on assemblies and then conducting regular sensitization seminars elsewhere in the country. A lot is also needed where we ought to have available personnel employed in schools to carry out thorough guidance and counseling in school. Addressing the issue helps account gender differences, as science has it that girls and women are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS than men. This danger will be effective if well addressed through education. Most of the schools are already doing their best because there are a number of ANTI-AIDS clubs in schools. However, these clubs need a helping hand as most of them become inactive due to lack of support from the elders around them and lack of materials to use. Thanks to the Ministry of Education for addressing the subject in various areas. The workshops are meant to train teachers on how to handle the subject in schools as parents. The biggest hurdle however is that even when they are trained, they feel uncomfortable discussing the subject due to lack of openness to the students. I remember when I was in class one day and the teacher was teaching us about reproduction. This is something we were hearing for the first time. Because he was going to talk about the male and female reproductive organs, the introduction was, “If you see ‘something’ that amuses you, don’t laugh. If you laugh, I will stop the lesson.” So we had to wear crossed faces. Up to now I keep wondering why we didn’t have to laugh to enjoy our lesson the way we enjoyed other lessons. It is high time we stopped calling a spade a big spoon, but a real spade. Rwanda is a country known for her strong fight against AIDS and the epidemic doesn’t seem to be as severe as was in the past. All we need is a stronger hand to fight harder. We all need to stand firm and address the problem because it appears to be a big health and societal problem before it creates extra obstacles to achieving educational and developmental objectives. HIV/AIDS and life skills education should be integrated into the national curriculum at all levels of education with approved text books and teaching materials. Again there must be thorough supervision that they are used in schools. The author is a teacher in the Eastern Provinceshebs10@yahoo.com