More HIV education needed in schools

Angela Dewan ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 02/27/2008 12:08 PM  |  Body & Soul

While every school in Indonesia is required to provide basic information about the prevention and transmission of HIV/AIDS, only 45 percent educate their students using a life-skills approach in dealing with the virus.

The Education Ministry is responsible for training existing teachers (usually biology, physical education and religious studies teachers) to educate their students about HIV.

However, even though government funding for HIV education doubled in 2005 and has increased since, there is still not enough to reach all schools.

"We simply don't have the budget to train all teachers," said Purnomo Ananto, head of the Center for Physical Quality Development of the Education Ministry.

Instead of training teachers from all schools, the Education Ministry stretches its budget by providing seminars in schools that are disadvantaged or underprivileged, by inviting a select number of students from surrounding schools to participate. These students then become peer leaders on the subject in their own schools.

The ministry runs many of these programs in collaboration with UNESCO.

"Last year we went to Bogor to run a seminar. We invited students from surrounding schools, with the idea that other schools would replicate the seminar and invite more schools ... like a multiplier effect," said Ratna T. Sinaga, chief of educational affairs at UNESCO.

Ratna wants to see systemic improvements with HIV education in schools, but acknowledges that beyond management and funding, there are more hurdles concerning HIV education.

"Schools have to give their students information on HIV, but it's not really in the curriculum. We hope to integrate it soon. It's the same with human rights and gender issues," she said.

"In some districts, talking about sex is quite taboo," said Purnomo. "Some schools also reject the notion that their students may be sexually active, but data indicates there are probably sexually active students in all schools."

The Education Ministry is not solely responsible for the lack of HIV education in schools, as there is a need for support from the community to take interest in the epidemic.

"Political will is also a problem," Purnomo added.

"A lot of people think it's the problem of the Health Ministry, not the Education Ministry. But HIV/AIDS is a social problem, not a health problem. A lot of schools prioritize their students' academic success over HIV education. Maybe they think it's a waste of time."

Other ministries and non-governmental organizations, such as UNICEF and World Vision, are also working with the national department to provide seminars.

"When the Cultural and Tourism Ministry contributed last year, they put on a performance in an effort to spread information. Sometimes you have to be creative to convey the information, especially to kids," Ratna said.

The combined efforts of the ministries and other organizations have no doubt been somewhat successful. Nevertheless, the majority of schools are still not receiving the educational life skills required to prevent the contraction of HIV.

The Kios Informasi Kesehatan (Health Information Kiosk) in West Jakarta, set up by Atma Jaya University, is helping close the HIV education gap. The kiosk is a support group for HIV sufferers and provides clean disposable needles and syringes for injecting drug users. It also provides free condoms and information about HIV/AIDS and other STDs.

Members of the kiosk also occasionally visit schools, where they hold workshops about HIV/AIDS. In the workshop they discuss HIV transmission through injecting drug use, sexual contact and tattoo needles.

The group runs the workshops every few months on schools' requests.

"We get the children to discuss issues about HIV in groups. They talk about sex and drugs. Sometimes they laugh when they talk about sex," said Cecilia Rina Haryanti, service coordinator at the kiosk. "But they like talking about it."

Injected drug use is the cause of 55 percent of Indonesia's HIV cases. Sexual contact was initially the most common cause of HIV infection, however, transmission among injecting drug users has increased eight-fold since 1998.

In Papua, however, HIV is still spread more commonly through sexual contact.

According to a study funded by the World Bank, the U.S. government and Family Health International, 48 percent of Papuans do not know what HIV is and the incidence if AIDS in the region is 20 times that of the rest of the country.

The Education Ministry, UNICEF and UNESCO focus much of their efforts on Papua. Some schools, both in and outside of Papua, however, do not wish to run such programs and others prefer a censored version of the program.

"Sometimes we have to be careful about what images we use. Some schools do not like graphic images related to sex or drug use," Cecilia said.

While the rest of the world is seeing the epidemic stabilize, it is on the increase in Indonesia. In September last year, the number of Indonesians with HIV reached 10,384. Of those, 2,190 were infected that year. These figures mean Indonesia has the fastest growth rate of HIV in Asia.

In spite of these statistics, the government has provided only Rp 500 billion (US$54 million) of the estimated Rp 1.3 trillion (US$141.5 million) needed for HIV prevention. Seventy percent of the country's funding still comes from international sources and many NGOs contribute significantly to educational programs as well.

However, Indonesia optimistically plans to increase government funding by 75 percent over the next three years.

While HIV is rapidly spreading in Indonesia, most children go without learning the skills needed to deal with the virus. Purnomo and the Education Ministry are making slow progress with getting information on HIV into schools.

"Our target, which was set by the UN, is that by 2010 we will have 90 percent of schools taking a life skills education approach instead of only 45 percent, like we do now."

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