Students eager, parents divided on AIDS program
Students eager, parents divided on AIDS program
JAKARTA (JP): Students are enthusiastic and school principals are supportive, but many parents and teachers are divided about the recent introduction of an HIV and AIDS education program at 10 senior high schools in Jakarta.
A staff member of the Pelita Ilmu Foundation, Usep Solehudin, reported on Saturday that its program was initiated between Dec. 23 and Jan. 7 at five state and private schools in Tebet and Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta, Cipinang Besar Selatan in East Jakarta and Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta.
The foundation is a support group for people with HIV/AIDS.
More than 300 students, mostly freshmen, from 10 senior high schools, five state-owned and five private, were involved in the trial run of the course.
Many teachers were reluctant to participate due to the still taboo nature of sexual issues here, but they were briefed by the foundation and the Ministry of Health about the importance of the program and how to best handle the subject, Usep said.
Usep, who is in charge of the trial program, told around 70 teachers and headmasters at a presentation on Saturday that although the sessions after school are tiring and that many participating were shy, many students spoke freely about sex.
One of the 24 teachers involved in the program, Mochammad Yassin from a school in Tebet, said some parents were not interested in their kids participating in a program on AIDS, which they called "just another sexually-transmitted disease".
"Other diseases like syphilis have been around for ages. All you need to do is take care of yourself," Yassin said quoting a parent.
Another teacher, Suwartiningsih from an Islamic high school in Rawasari, said she had to overcome her embarrassment in replying to student questions.
Homosexuals
"I had to explain how homosexuals can contract the virus," she said.
Yassin, who teaches biology, said both boys and girls have to be wary of adults who take them shopping and then ask for sexual favors.
Pelita Ilmu's chairwoman, Soemartini, said the foundation hopes to expand its program to younger students given that, according to a foundation pamphlet, 50 percent of Indonesians who have tested HIV-positive are under 25 and 20 percent of those with AIDS are under 20.
She added that if the trial program is successful the foundation will ask the Ministry of Education and Culture to include the program in the national curricula.
Last month the ministry stated that the national curricula would eventually include some form of instruction on HIV/AIDS in elementary schools and junior high schools.
The foundation's six-month trial project has received the support of the Jakarta Health Agency as well as the sponsorship of the British Council and the United States Agency for International Development's program called Enabling Private Organizations to Combat HIV/AIDS (EPOCH).
As of last month, the official number of HIV-positive and AIDS cases here is 364, with 125 cases recorded in Jakarta.
From the national figures of 277 HIV-positive cases, 16 are in the 15-19 age group, and 164 are in the 20-29 group. Of the 87 persons with AIDS, two are between 15 and 19, and 14 are aged 20 to 29.(anr)