Teacher Training for HIV/AIDS Education

Sub-Saharan Africa contains just over 10% of the world’s population, but is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV – 25.8 million. In 2005, an estimated 3.2 million Africans became newly infected, while 2.4 million died of AIDS. This World Bank statistics underscores the enormous need for AIDS education in the region. In Kenya, where roughly 10% of the adult population (2 million people) is infected, prevention is the only hope for the next generation. The facts about HIV prevention and all the associated life skills are perhaps the most critical part of our students’ education.

The Kenya Education Fund’s teacher training program is a free service that will be provided to all schools attended by KEF kids beginning in 2007. Our trainers are experienced health professionals that have worked for the Ministry of Health and local VCT’s (Voluntary Counseling and Testing Clinics). They will work closely with each school to ensure their teachers properly teach a specially designed curriculum. Our approach is to get these educators to work with their students on what are called, “Life Skills” – those essential morsels of social interaction and learning that include the development of attitudes, values and knowledge needed to make life’s most important decisions. Our trainers will teach these educators creative exercises and games designed to build their students’ skills in areas such as communication, self-confidence, goal-setting, resisting peer-pressure and preventing illness. By transferring the skills of HIV/AIDS education to teachers, we are supporting a sustainable approach to prevention. Once armed with this knowledge, teachers can protect themselves, as well as educate new students year after year. Each school is also expected to help their students form AIDS Awareness Clubs in which students peer-teach, perform AIDS related dramas in the school and community, and collect educational resources made accessible to the entire student body.