Cape Town – Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says government has increased its focus on HIV and Aids education programme to help curb the spread of the disease amongst learners.
The Minister said this when she Ministers in the Social Protection, Community and Human Development Cluster briefed the media on the progress that has been made in the implementation of the cluster’s Programme of Action (PoA) towards achieving the goals of the NDP: Vision 2030.
“Government is responding to the urgent need to massively improve the sexual and reproductive health education and services for adolescents in South Africa. It has become necessary for government to once again re-focus the HIV and AIDS Life Skills Education Programme,” she said.
The Minister said according to 2012 Human Science Research Council (HSRC) HIV prevalence survey, the infection rate amongst 15-19 year olds is 3.2% (0.7 males and 5.6% females). She said the recent International Aids Conference held in Durban earlier this year further pointed high prevalence of HIV amongst learners and girl learners in particular.
“To date, the Department of Basic Education National Policy on HIV, STIs and TB was approved on 20 May 2016 and the campaign for girls and young women was launched by the Deputy President in June 2016,” the Minister said.
The Minister said it remains government’s priority to ensure that learners stay in school and perform to their maximum capacity without hindrances.
She said the psychosocial and economic realities of South Africa merit schools as valuable centres of support, with ever-increasing demands on educators.
These include high rates of unemployment and poverty; high rates of HIV and tuberculosis infection; crime; orphanage; violence and child abuse, the Minister said.
“Part of our duty as a caring government is to monitor and intervene on matters relating to the overall wellbeing of learners.
“In the past months, we received a number of reports that indicate a concerning situation emerging in the sector.
“To address this, we have undertaken to review and strengthen psychosocial support to learners,” she said.
The Minister also said that the 2013 report of the Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS) by the Medical Research Council indicates that 25 percent of the 15-19 year old age group reported having experienced sadness or feelings of hopelessness.
The report further stated that out of these learners, 37% had to see a doctor or counsellor for treatment.
“In response to this, the department has developed a conceptual framework on the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) Programme.
“This programme seeks to guide response towards addressing the various barriers to learning faced by South African learners in schools.
“Working in collaboration with universities and other government departments, final year psychology students have been placed in schools as school-based counsellors.
“The pilot of this programme is yielding positive results and we hope to strengthen and grow this partnership with universities,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za
