This time teachers get tutored on AIDS

April 23, 2002

The Statesman April 23, 2002-Ranjeet S Jamwal in New Delhi

April 22: it was a hit of a role reversal at a government school in Jhandewalan

today when 24 teachers from 11 schools, instead of delivering monologues and

firing questions, spent the day answering questions on AIDS and listening to

long lectures on the issue.

This was part of the training programme-organised by a non-governmental

organisation, Voluntary Health Association, in collaboration with the Delhi

State AIDS Control Society-for nodal teachers on HIV/AIDS at Sarvodaya Bal

Vidyalaya, Jhandewalan.

And the teachers were in for some " startling " revelations regarding the disease.

Asked how many HIV/AIDS they thought were detected in India, most teachers

guessed at between 16,000 to 20,000. And all of them were horrified when told

that the real number was 39.7 lakh on 1 April 2002.

Similarly, when asked what percentage of AIDS cases spread through unsafe sex,

the teachers' answers alternated between 50 and 99 per cent whereas the real

figure is 80 to 85 per cent.

Lack of awareness was apparent again when teachers were asked to recall when

they heard of the first AIDS case in India. Most teachers chose either 1980

(when AIDS had not yet been detected) or 1995 (nine years late).

The training programme also generated a heated debate on whether or not

confidentiality of people detected with AIDS should be maintained. The question

posed to the participants was " What will you don if you come to know that one of

your students has AIDS? "

One teacher said he will send the child to a doctor, whole another said he

thought the parents of the child should be informed.

Told that disclosing the identity of the victims may get them into trouble most

teachers questioned the validity of this rule. " This may well lead to more cases

of AIDS. We should at least inform the parents, " asserted many of the teachers.

However, they were firmly told by the Unesco programme officer, Dr Shankar

Choudhary, " If you disclose the identity of the victim, he or she will be

ostracised by their schoolmates and society. The victim may feel depressed,

commit suicide or behave in an extreme way. "

" Confidentiality is the basic human right, don't violate this. Instead help the

person with your sympathy and counseling, " added Dr. Choudhary.

But the teachers still did not agree. A teacher from the host school, Mr. Bipin

Upadhyaya, said later " hiding the fact could also cause much damage to the

child's mental land physical state. If we inform the parents, the student will

probably get access to medical help and moral support. This is not an earning

adult who can manage to secure help along with confidentiality. "

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