World AIDS Day: Teachers take the lead

To mark World AIDS Day, Education International is challenging educators around the world to teach the same lesson as part of a new initiative called "One Hour on AIDS." The aim is to create a great global learning experience that will increase awareness of the disease and show solidarity with the millions of people suffering from it.

Education International has been at the forefront of AIDS prevention through education since 2001, and now delivers its EFAIDS programme in 46 different countries through 71 affiliated teacher unions.

EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen said that teachers are determined to confront the HIV and AIDS pandemic in their classrooms because they see its devastation in their communities.

"Teachers are confronted with the human tragedy of HIV and AIDS in their classrooms every day," van Leeuwen said. "We see it in the eyes of children who have lost one or both parents, in the empty desks of colleagues who have passed away. We feel the impact of HIV all around us and this makes us all the more determined to fight it."

At the same time, he said, teachers recognise the enormous potential in their hands to stop the spread of HIV through education.  "That is the commitment of EI and its affiliated teacher organisations on World AIDS Day," van Leeuwen added.

To that end, EI has created an activity kit to help teachers teach about HIV and AIDS. It contains introductory materials, a one-hour lesson plan that can be adapted to the age of students, and a "Take the Lead" poster that highlights ways to take action against AIDS.  The activity kit is not exclusively for use in schools.  It can also be used to raise awareness among union members.  To download the kit in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, please go to: http://www.ei-ie.org/efaids

Van Leeuwen stressed that this week’s lesson should be only the beginning of an ongoing learning process so that teachers and children around the world can gain the information they need to keep themselves safe from the virus.

"Sadly there is still no vaccine or cure for HIV," he said.  "But we believe education is the most effective social vaccine to prevent HIV infection. As the campaign slogan says: We want to spread the word, not the virus!"