HIV/AIDS in Asia: Human Rights and the Education Sector. Discussion Paper No. II

An evaluation is presented on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector in the Asia Pacific region. Its focus is how human rights in relation to education have been upset by the epidemic. The education sector is urged to develop more initiatives to educate about the epidemic, and to build measures that deal with both immediate and long-term impacts of HIV/AIDS. Children infected with HIV are often restricted from access to education. This limitation does not only come from the community, but also from family or parents. Such stigma and discrimination is not restricted to children. Teachers and school administrators who are HIV infected are also deprived of their right to work. Such discrimination affects not only the individual but the education sector as a whole. An analysis is given on how governments can change and rectify such discrimination through the 4A's models, developed for a UNESCO-supported manual on rights-based education (2004). The 4A's comprise Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability, and Adaptability. Availability refers to the obligation to ensure compulsory and free education for all children within a determined age range. Accessibility describes an obligation to eliminate exclusion from education based on internationally accepted norms. Acceptability sets minimum standards for education; and Adaptability calls for special action to provide education for children who were are precluded from formal schooling. Apart from government policy formulation, the education sector can ensure that all children (whether they are infected with HIV/AIDS or not) are given the right to an education, that infected teachers can continue working, and that confidentiality is observed. There should be no stigmatizing curricular. Young people should learn about the epidemic and ways to protect themselves. There are several links between the education sector, HIV/AIDS and human rights. Key to confronting discrimination includes inclusive education, knowledge about HIV/AIDS, and the quality of the curriculum. (Contains 1 footnote.) [This document was published by UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. For Discussion Paper No. I in this series, see ED496239.]