Ei-iE

Education International is pleased to announce a new initiative to mark World AIDS Day in classrooms this November 30 (December 1 being a Saturday). 'One Hour on AIDS' will see learners around the world benefiting from lessons on AIDS on the same day. EI is putting together a kit specially designed for teachers which they can adapt to their school environment and their students.

Taking place each year on December 1, World AIDS Day is all about raising awareness on HIV and AIDS. Teachers have a key role to play in this campaign. They are needed to provide education that can act as a social vaccine against HIV.

This year, Education International, in collaboration with its partner organisation the Education Development Centre (EDC), has designed a World AIDS Day activity to be used by teachers and learners in schools and classrooms, but also potentially in the context of union meetings, HIV prevention Clubs and so on.

The idea is as follows: with 'One Hour on AIDS' as their guiding theme, teachers around the world will be able to give their students a lesson on AIDS with the help of a simple kit provided by EI. The intention is not to limit learning about HIVAIDS to one hour a year but rather to use this as a point of departure for activities throughout the year.

EI will provide a succinct introduction and background to the teachers so that they can facilitate the activity. The materials will focus on describing the global pandemic according to how teachers and learners across the world are affected by AIDS. The activity's objective is to sensitise participants and to encourage them to participate in the campaign against the pandemic.

The activity will begin by challenging learners to respond to a question or statement in small groups. Each group will come up with a different statement or question. The teacher will be provided with prompts to get the groups to think through the different aspects of these statements and questions: what does it mean to me as an individual, to my friends, my family, the community, the country, and globally? These small groups will then share their responses and invite others to comment in the larger group. The teacher will then facilitate the class in synthesising the range of opinions expressed. The objective is to allow participants to explore and express their views on HIV and AIDS in the classroom, and if interested, globally through EI.

The teacher will then describe the several ways that individuals can respond to AIDS. These include: starting with oneself by taking universal precautions, not stigmatising others who have the illness; making changes in the school (advocating for classes on HIV and AIDS to be taught and advocating for anti-discrimination policies; increasing awareness (performing a drama, holding a poster competition); getting involved in the community (volunteer at an AIDS service organisation, donate food or clothing); taking global action (write to politicians and newspapers to support universal treatment, attend/organise a rally). These ideas will be presented on a poster that can be hung on the wall and referred to throughout the year. Interested participants can pledge to take action on any of these and the teacher will record these pledges. This poster will be developed by EI and EDC and distributed to all EI affiliates in the next few weeks.

After the event has taken place, teachers unions will be asked to send back a summary of the discussions that took place and the action pledges made which we will compile, analyse, and include in a report. The report will then be disseminated throughout EI's affiliates. It will also be possible to post responses on the EI website.

'One Hour on AIDS' is an activity that will help teachers' unions and their members to explore what AIDS means to them and encourage them to find a way to help respond to the pandemic.

The activity will be posted to all EI affiliates at the end of this month and translated in as many languages as possible with the assistance of EI affiliates. To download the tool kit, please click here. For more information, please contact us at [email protected].