The Impact of the AIDS Epidemic on the Schooling of Orphans and Other Directly Affected Children in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This is the second of two articles that assess the available evidence concerning the impact of the AIDS epidemic on teachers and the schooling of orphans and other directly affected children in sub-Saharan Africa. The two main conclusions of this article are, firstly, that current and future projections of orphan country populations are likely to be serious overestimates. And secondly, while the impact of losing one or both parents on educational attainment is often much less than has been suggested, Ministries of Education need to act decisively in order to mitigate the impact of the epidemic on the schooling of these children.

Growing Up in the Era of AIDS: The Well-Being of Children Affected and Infected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Children whose parents were ill were more likely to experience increased absenteeism as they were needed at home for care duties, household chores and food production; as poverty increased, school fees could no longer be afforded and children were forced to drop out; the psychosocial impact of parental illness and death also had an impact on school performance often leading to failure, repetition and drop out (Badcock-Walters, 2002;Bicego et al 2003;Mishra et al, 2007) . Other studies, however, have had ambivalent results; for example, Bennell (2005) found that there were minimal differences between enrolment rates of orphans and non-orphans, and that there was no correlation between differences in enrolment rates and HIV prevalence. This may be attributed to the introduction of free universal primary education as a result of the Millennium Goals campaign and also targeted aid to orphan households (Bennell, 2005, pp.…”

Orphan status, school attendance, and relationship to household head in Nigeria

“…Net of household wealth, the risk of being behind is greater for paternal and double orphans than maternal orphans and non-orphans (Bicego et al 2003;Case et al 2004;Bennell 2005;Parikh et al 2007). An exception is Botswana, where maternal orphans are most likely to be behind (Bennell 2005).…”

“…Using DHS and other survey data for Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, earlier research shows that orphans are a grade level behind non-orphans (Bicego et al 2003;Guo et al 2012;Kidman et al 2012). Net of household wealth, the risk of being behind is greater for paternal and double orphans than maternal orphans and non-orphans (Bicego et al 2003;Case et al 2004;Bennell 2005;Parikh et al 2007). An exception is Botswana, where maternal orphans are most likely to be behind (Bennell 2005).…”

“…Some studies find that there is no difference between the school attendance of orphans and non-orphans (Yamano et al 2006;Parikh et al 2007). Orphanhood either depresses or increases schooling depending on the country 7 (Ainsworth and Filmer 2002;Bennell 2005;Guo et al 2012).…”

The experiences of AIDS orphans living in a township

“…They go to school because they aren't different there; they are simply children who need a good education to equip them for the future. (Bennell 2005) With regard to education as a source of re-establishing hope, the participants had the following to say: The orphans involved in this study were glad to talk about the community groups to which they belonged and their activities within these groups. Inclusion in community groups helped the orphans to forget their problems and gave them a place to belong.…”