The socioeconomic impact of HIV/AIDS on education outcomes in Uganda: School enrolment and the schooling gap in 2002/2003

Due to high prime-age mortality—a result of the HIV/AIDS scourge, the number of orphans in Uganda continues to rise. Using the 2002/2003 Uganda National Household Survey, this paper investigates how HIV/AIDS orphan status affects schooling enrolment and grade progression. Our results show that HIV/AIDS orphans are not significantly less likely to continue schooling but are by far more likely to fall below their appropriate grade. Furthermore, we find that the schooling gaps decreases at higher levels of household welfare status—poor HIV/AIDS orphans, especially aged 13–17 years, are significantly less likely to continue schooling.     

RESEARCH SECTION: The acceptability of psychosocial support interventions for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS: an evaluation of teacher ratings

The AIDS epidemic has created many orphans around the globe. A majority of these orphans live in sub‐Saharan Africa. Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS face many daunting challenges in their struggle to cope with life. The issues they face due to the loss of their parent(s) include poverty, the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and stress. This study carried out by Morgan Chitiyo of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Darlington Changara of Midlands AIDS Caring Organisation and George Chitiyo of Tennessee Technological University discusses how different psychosocial and educational interventions have been developed to help the children to overcome these challenges. However, few of the interventions have been empirically tested to determine their efficacy. The authors set out to evaluate the treatment acceptability of a psychosocial support programme using a group of teachers who had received training and were participating in the implementation of the programme across their schools. Findings from the study indicate high acceptability ratings of the programme.     

当前俄罗斯孤儿安置政策分析

孤儿的健康发展问题是当前俄罗斯社会教育工作的重点和难点。对此,俄罗斯采取了各种措施,保障孤儿的生存权和发展权,保障孤儿享有公平的教育。在社会救助政策实施过程中,俄罗斯建构了"政府—社会—家庭"一体的社会救助体系,形成了以现有社会保障体系为核心,以社区服务、社会各类组织的社会服务为基础的孤儿保护网络,在各种教育活动中强调预防理念、援助理念和发展理念,巩固家庭、学校纽带,增强与社会服务业和教会的联系。俄罗斯关注孤儿的健康成长,在社会实践活动中形成了道德关怀的精神理念。俄罗斯通过物质援助、政策扶持、法律保障和教育实践,提升了孤儿生存和发展的质量,为实现社会公平与社会秩序的目标提供了保障。     

Physical and sexual abuse in orphaned compared to non-orphaned children in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review assessed the quantitative literature to determine whether orphans are more likely to experience physical and/or sexual abuse compared to non-orphans in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It also evaluated the quality of evidence and identified research gaps. Our search identified 10 studies, all published after 2005, from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. The studies consisted of a total 17,336 participants (51% female and 58% non-orphans). Of those classified as orphans (n = 7,315), 73% were single orphans, and 27% were double orphans. The majority of single orphans were paternal orphans (74%). Quality assessment revealed significant variability in the quality of the studies, although most scored higher for general design than dimensions specific to the domain of orphans and abuse. Combined estimates of data suggested that, compared to non-orphans, orphans are not more likely to experience physical abuse (combined OR = 0.96, 95% CI [0.79, 1.16]) or sexual abuse (combined OR = 1.25, 95% CI [0.88, 1.78]). These data suggest that orphans are not systematically at higher risk of experiencing physical or sexual abuse compared to non-orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. However, because of inconsistent quality of data and reporting, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Several recommendations are made for improving data quality and reporting consistency on this important issue.     

Challenges facing child protection

The challenges facing children in the 21st century are immense and will need to be faced if we are to achieve the goal of child protection for all. Three specific constraints on child protection are examined in this article, namely poverty, HIV/AIDS infection, and war. The authors use their experience in Africa to raise issues of resilience and adaptation, dangers to child protection programs, and possible solutions. Poverty can be both financial and psychological, and this affects the effect of prevention programs. In many African and Asian countries, the AIDS pandemic has changed the social structure of society with AIDS orphans and children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS becoming more common. The impact has devastating effects on the way we view child protection and in particular child sexual abuse. The consequences of post-traumatic stress resulting from war needs to be addressed, and the development of programs that place children in the center of relief programs to foster a culture of child protection is essential. Finally, the article notes that the picture is not overly pessimistic and the examines the achievements in the field of children's rights which underpin all programs aimed at protecting children and the future need to consolidate successes achieved.     

试论张承志文本的三个原型

以原型批评方法对张承志作品进行分析，发现张承志的作品中都有三个原型：孤儿原型、追寻原型和原始 成年礼仪原型。在张承志作品中，主人公大都为孤儿角色，父亲大都缺席或不在场，这表现了作家潜意识深处的“弑 父”情怀。张承志的文本不仅主人公大都是孤儿，而且都在重复一个主题，即“寻父”主题，“寻父”这一行为一方面标 示了男孩未成熟的存在状况，另一方面也标示了男孩要成年的渴望。张承志的文本描述和记录了成年仪式，即孤儿 要完成具体的社会角色转换，必须经历一系列的考验方能成人，这种成人仪式是人们追求理性和完善的表征，是人 们企图克服自身的缺陷和不完善，达到理性和至善的美好愿望。     

Embers to bonfires: an analysis of early childhood teacher training in Zambia

This study examined a five-year project initiated by the Women’s Global Connection (WGC) to train pre-primary teachers in schools serving HIV/AIDS orphans in Zambia. The researchers evaluated the contextual factors of the training initiative to clarify why some teachers possess high self-efficacy, while others do not. The article analyses the self-report survey responses of all training participants and also describes compelling interview narratives obtained from a random sampling of extreme groups. When stories from the groups were compared, factors emerged that had enabled some participants to feel more successful than others. The researchers selected the Success Case Method (SCM) as a research process for its straightforward determination of the impact of organisational initiatives on the organisation’s project goals. The results may guide international teacher training for developing countries.     

Addressing educational needs of children with HIV/AIDS

With the increased occurrence of HIV and AIDS among children, the education system of countries is particularly burdened as these children survive into adulthood and beyond, as anti-retroviral regimens are increasingly effective in prolonging life. One of the most challenging problems presented to educators, when confronted with the growing HIV/AIDS school population, is the planning of education programmes based on these children's information-processing strengths, but also taking into account HIV/AIDS related cognitive restraints. An education-focused response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic requires a clear understanding of medical and neuropsychological effects of HIV/AIDS-related illness on cognition and residual learning difficulties, as well as a clear understanding of the educational needs of these learners. The impact of medical conditions such as HIV encephalopathy or encephalitis (also know as the AIDS dementia complex), subcortical dementia, cranial calcifications, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL), cerebrovascular disease, progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML), white matter disease, toxoplasmosis, syphilis, meningitis and ophthalmic problems leading to educational difficulties are discussed. From this information we propose an instructional delivery framework for children with HIV/AIDS and argue the importance of addressing the educational needs of this growing population of children. A broad multidisciplinary approach is essential if we are to understand the complexity of the pandemic and respond to it.     

Gender and wealth disparities in schooling: Evidence from 44 countries

This paper uses internationally comparable household data sets (Demographic and Health Surveys) to investigate how gender and wealth interact to generate within-country inequalities in educational enrollment and attainment. The paper highlights that girls are at a great educational disadvantage in particular regions: South Asia and North, Western, and Central Africa. There are two main new findings. First, while gender gaps are large in a subset of countries, wealth gaps are large in almost all of the countries studied—and typically larger than corresponding gender gaps. Second, and of special concern, is the finding that in particular countries where there is a large female disadvantage in enrollment, wealth interacts with gender to exacerbate the gap in educational outcomes.     

Proposing an instructional framework for children with HIV/AIDS

HIV and AIDS infections are becoming an increasing problem all over the world. The education systems of developing countries are particularly burdened with the increased occurrence of the disease among children. The central nervous system is one of the major are as of the body that HIV/AIDS affects. Because scholastic performance is linked closely to the functioning of the brain, it is important to know which areas of the brain are affected by the virus and how the illness manifests, in order to provide an appropriate educational programme for these children. By understanding the weaknesses of HIV/AIDS children within the educational system, educators can focus on their strengths in order to provide these children with a well-structured and effective education. In this article, two researchers from the University of Pretoria, Dr Drienie (H) Naudé, Professor of Educational Psychology, and Dr Resia (E) Pretorius, senior lecturer in the Department of Anatomy, suggest that the receptive language abilities of children with AIDS and HIV infection might be less affected than their expressive and non-verbal skills. From this information, the authors propose an instructional delivery framework for children with HIV/AIDS. Specific recommendations focus on reading, arithmetic/mathematics, handwriting instruction and the use of computers. The aims of this programme are to assist teachers who might be confronted with the learning needs of children with HIV/AIDS and to promote a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the educational needs of this growing population of children.     

Implementing information technology at the Border Technikon in South Africa

The mission of Border Technikon in South Africa is to provide the best vocational and career education to students of all racial and cultural backgrounds in the East London area. The staff believes that an important component of this mission includes giving students marketable skills for the information age. Therefore, in 1996, the Technikon undertook an extensive program to implement new information technologies that would help fulfill the institution's mission. Implementing information technology at academic institutions in developing countries must address a special set of problems, some of which are technology gaps, educational deficits, and lack of adequate facilities. This paper describes some of the more unique problems the Technikon encountered, and a few solutions. During 1996, she served as a Senior Librarian at Border Technikon, East London, South Africa, under the Educators for Africa Program of the International Foundation of Education and Self-Help.     

Who benefits from public spending on higher education in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa?

Most countries are far from achieving the new sustainable development target of equal access to higher education by 2030, with those in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa furthest behind. This raises questions about the allocation of public resources across the education system to promote equity. We use data from Demographic and Health Surveys and UNESCO Institute for Statistics in 31 countries in these regions to assess who benefits from public spending on education. Our results reveal an overall pattern of pro-rich education spending, increasing with education level. We find that this pattern can be traced to an allocation of resources to higher education that is disproportionate to the sub-sector’s size: even when higher education spending overall represents a small proportion of total educational expenditure, per-capita expenditure is extremely high. Given that the richest predominantly gain access to higher education, the current spending patterns are likely to reinforce wealth-driven education inequalities.     

Lifelong learning for facilitating democratic participation in Africa

Lifelong learning has come to be internationally recognized as a framework in the development of sustainable education. However, in spite of rhetoric and its endorsement in some nations’ policy documents, lifelong learning is not operationalized and Africa continues to be plagued by social maladies such as HIV/AIDS, capacity poverty, low quality education, global marginalization and ineffective governance. The article argues that post‐colonial Africa transited from concern with service delivery, went through structural adjustment policies to focusing on African renaissance. It indicates that some countries have embraced lifelong learning as policy framework but have not made sufficient efforts to translate that in their teaching and learning. It contents that lifelong learning in Africa can only be effective if African communities are encouraged to make concerted efforts to embrace principles such as deliberative democracy, multiculturalism, decentralization of decision‐making and helping to redirect the agenda of civil society as a way to use lifelong learning to enhance public participation in Africa.     

Delivering lifelong learning for sustainable development in Southern Africa: problems and prospects

Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations in principle endorse lifelong learning (LLL) as a useful framework for sustainable development. However, in spite of the rhetoric, only a few member states such as South Africa, Botswana and Namibia have officially endorsed LLL in their educational policies. The sub-region is plagued by social atrocities such as HIV/AIDS, capacity poverty, low quality education, global marginalization, ineffective pedagogical and civil society agencies. The paper argues that since 1994, SADC has transited from being preoccupied with fighting Apartheid to focus on regional development, it experienced structural adjustment policies and is currently playing a critical role in pursuit of African renaissance. The region faces challenges such as centralization of educational planning, lack of a concerted culture of democratic participation, failure to recognize cultural diversity, and poor civil society engagement. The paper contends that LLL would help SADC countries to decentralize educational decision-making, engage communities in democratic discourses, train facilitators to reflective practitioners and engage the civil society in facilitating the attainment of regional sustainable development agenda.     

The challenge of enhancing inclusive education in developing countries

This paper is concerned with enhancing inclusive education (IE) in developing countries (DCs). It is estimated that the majority of the world's population of people with disabilities live in DCs of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and the Middle East, some 150 million of them being children, but less than 2% are receiving any form of rehabilitation service. Thus successful implementation of IE could increase the number of those with disabilities receiving educational and other services in DCs. Evidence, however, indicates that IE is not being satisfactorily implemented in most DCs. Factors such as the absence of support services, relevant materials, inadequate personnel training programmes, lack of funding structure and the absence of enabling legislation are the major problems of effective implementation of IE in these countries. The implications for improvements in these areas to achieve meaningful implementation of IE in DCs are discussed.     

Regional inequality in university attainment in seven African countries since 1960

Inequalities in access to university education are of concern across the world, but many countries in Africa have faced particularly pronounced regional and ethnic inequalities in educational attainment. Have such disparities increased or decreased since the 1960s? Using census data to trace the sub-national origins of university students in seven African countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia) over successive birth cohorts shows that regional inequalities in access have taken a u-shaped path. In the first two decades of independence, as higher education expanded from a low base, graduates were growing more regionally and ethnically representative of the national populations. Since the 1980s regional inequalities have increased in most countries, on account of a growing attainment gap between people born in the largest cities and the remaining populations. This growing educational advantage accruing to those born in the main urban metropolises was initially driven by a slowdown in enrolment growth, coupled with high rates of skills-selective urban migration and higher educational performance in the urban regions. This new urban bias is rapidly changing the composition of the region’s educational elites.     

Child sexual abuse in sub-Saharan Africa: a literature review

OBJECTIVE: This article reviews the English-language literature on child sexual abuse in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The focus is on the sexual abuse of children in the home/community, as opposed to the commercial sexual exploitation of children. METHODS: English language, peer-reviewed papers cited in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) are examined. Reports from international and local NGOs and UN agencies are also examined. RESULTS: Few published studies on the sexual abuse of children have been conducted in the region, with the exception of South Africa. Samples are predominantly clinical or University based. A number of studies report that approximately 5% of the sample reported penetrative sexual abuse during their childhood. No national survey of the general population has been conducted. The most frequent explanations for the sexual abuse of children in SSA include rapid social change, AIDS/HIV avoidance strategies and the patriarchal nature of society. Child sexual abuse is most frequently perpetrated by family members, relatives, neighbors or others known to the child. CONCLUSIONS: There is nothing to support the widely held view that child sexual abuse is very rare in SSA-prevalence levels are comparable with studies reported from other regions. The high prevalence levels of AIDS/HIV in the region expose sexually abused children to high risks of infection. It is estimated that, approximately.6-1.8% of all children in high HIV-incidence countries in Southern Africa will experience penetrative sexual abuse by an AIDS/HIV infected perpetrator before 18 years of age.     

毒品及艾滋病致孤儿童集中教育救助实践探索——以边疆少数民族地区某小学为例

云南省某边疆少数民族地区,项目县将部分义务教育阶段的毒品及艾滋病致孤学生全免费集中于县直属某小学的各班级,通过社会各界捐助和学校经费倾斜,解决他们的学习、生活及医疗等问题。实施在校期间由学校集中救助教养、寒暑假期由乡镇政府接回交给原代理监护人看管的方式,历经四年多的实践探索,初步形成学校集中救助毒品及艾滋病致孤儿童的特色教育救助模式。     

Education for sustainable development in Africa: The search for pedagogical logic

The United Nation's Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) is past its halfway milestone; yet, its overall impact on educational thinking and practice remains unclear in most places and regions of the world. While several efforts and programs are currently in place to promote and affirm the role of education in the global quest for sustainable development, most of these efforts remain largely unknown and invisible in most communities around the world. The Decade and ESD, arguably, are neither seen nor heard of in most of Africa. Most institutions, including schools, governments, businesses, civil society and individuals are yet to know and understand the role of education in the quest for sustainable development. The paper argues that in spite of the Decade and all the attention it is getting in some circles, the subject is muted in most educational policies and practices in Africa. In calling for more focused commitment to the roles of education in sustainable development in Africa, the paper also calls for a reconsideration of what sustainable development means, or might mean for Africans in their different places and cultures and to use that as a starting point for the exploration of more meaningful educational philosophies and pedagogies that responds to Africa's unique challenges.