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Moving towards inclusive educationpolicies and practices? Basic educationfor AIDS orphans and other vulnerablechildren in ZambiaSue Robson a & Sylvester Bonaventure Kanyanta ba School of Education , University of Newcastle , Newcastle uponTyne, UKb Zambia Institute of Special Education , Lusaka, ZambiaPublished online: 18 Jul 2007.

To cite this article: Sue Robson & Sylvester Bonaventure Kanyanta (2007) Moving towardsinclusive education policies and practices? Basic education for AIDS orphans and othervulnerable children in Zambia, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 11:4, 417-430, DOI:10.1080/13603110701391386

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International Journal of Inclusive EducationVol. 11, No. 4, July 2007, pp. 417–430

ISSN 1360–3116 (print)/ISSN 1464–5173 (online)/07/040417–14© 2007 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/13603110701391386

Moving towards inclusive education policies and practices? Basic education for AIDS orphans and other vulnerable children in ZambiaSue Robsona* and Sylvester Bonaventure KanyantabaSchool of Education, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; bZambia Institute of Special Education, Lusaka, ZambiaTaylor and Francis LtdTIED_A_239025.sgm10.1080/13603110701391386International Journal of Inclusive Education1360-3116 (print)/1464-5173 (online)Original Article2007Taylor & Francis0000000002007SueRobsonSue.Robson@ncl.ac.uk

The global spread of HIV and AIDS has presented a major threat to development, affecting thehealth of the poor and many aspects of social and economic development. The greatest impact ofthe epidemic has been felt in sub-Saharan Africa, and Zambia ranks among the worst hit countries.The Free Basic Education Policy in Zambia upholds the right of all children to a universal basiceducation. This study explored staff and student perceptions of the impact of the epidemic onaccess to, and the quality of, basic education for AIDS-affected children, orphans and other vulner-able children (OVCs) in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, where the HIV/AIDS prevalence rateranges from 34 to 40%, and life expectancy has dropped to 33 years. Data were collected fromeducation personnel in six districts of the Copperbelt with the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDSand from staff and students in six schools. The data indicated a range of factors that adversely affectthe access to, and quality of, education for AIDS-affected children and OVCs. Factors related toattendance and school completion; teachers and teaching; quality of learning; strategic planning,policy and school development are discussed. A positive outcome of this study was that students,teachers and other professionals freely discussed issues concerning the impact of the HIV and AIDSepidemic on education in a context where such issues are commonly met with silence or denial. Thedata enhance our understanding of the current crisis in education and the challenges ahead fortargeted development of more proactive and inclusive educational policies and practices in Zambia.

Introduction

Over the past two decades, the global spread of HIV and AIDS has presented amajor threat to development, affecting the health of the poor and many aspects

*Corresponding author. School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences, Universityof Newcastle, Joseph Cowen House, St Thomas Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK.Email: Sue.Robson@ncl.ac.uk

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418 S. Robson and S. Bonaventure Kanyanta

of social and economic development (UNAIDS, 2002). The greatest impact ofthe epidemic has been felt in sub-Saharan Africa, with Zambia ranking amongthe worst hit countries. More than 70% of the 10.5 million population live inpoverty (Central Statistical Office, 2003b) and the country has accrued acrippling national debt (Global Campaign for Education, 2004). One-quarter ofthe population live in two urban areas: the capital Lusaka and the industrialtowns of the Copperbelt, where the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate ranges from 34 to40% and life expectancy has dropped to 33 years (Central Statistical Office,2003a). Illness and death among parents has resulted in rapidly expandingnumbers of orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) and there have been manyAIDS-related deaths of children, infected during pregnancy or infancy (CentralStatistical Office, 2003a).

Zambia has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) andthe African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1986) with a commitmentfrom the Ministry of Education (MoE) to improve access to and quality of basiceducation (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 22). Basic schools provide educationfor pupils from Grades 1 to 9, with entry at seven years of age (Grade 1). In 2001,there were 5677 basic schools in Zambia, of which 4332 were government run, 63were grant aided, 2133 were privately funded and 1149 were Community Schools(Sampa, 2005).

The goal of ‘quality education for all which is accessible, inclusive, equitable andrelevant to individual, national, and global needs and value systems’ (Ministry ofEducation, 1996, p. 45) was operationalized in the educational reform programme,Basic Education Sub-Sector Investment Programme (BESSIP) (Ministry of Educa-tion, 2003). BESSIP set out plans to increase access to, and improve the quality ofUniversal Basic Education by 2015. The aims include improved literacy, numeracy,communication and lifeskills for students and enhanced systems to provide learningand teaching resources and adequate numbers of teachers for all basic schools(Ministry of Education, 1996).

The HIV and AIDS epidemic has particularly affected the education sector andthreatens the attainment of the BESSIP goals (Kasonde-Ng’andu et al., 1999;Kelly, 2000; Kanyanta, 2004; UNICEF-Zambia, 2004). This paper focuses on theimpact of the epidemic on basic education for AIDS-affected children and OVCs inthe high prevalence Copperbelt district. For the purposes of this study, an AIDSorphan is defined as a child below the age of 18 who has lost one parent (singleorphan) or both parents (double orphan) to the disease (Kanyanta, 2005). Vulnera-ble children are considered to be those at risk in terms of lack of access to basiceducation, social amenities or facilities (The World Bank, 2002). HIV and AIDShave increased the number of vulnerable children who include orphans of allcauses, children infected with HIV, pre-orphans caring for terminally sick parentswith AIDS, children in households fostering orphans, children who are themselvesfostered, children with disabilities, street children, children exposed to strenuouslabour or commercial sex work and children affected by conflict (The World Bank,2002, p. 17).

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Moving towards inclusive education policies and practices? 419

Research literature

A review of the literature indicates an emerging corpus of work on the impact of HIVand AIDS on education in sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS, 2002; Kanyanta, 2004;UNICEF-Zambia, 2004; Kalichman et al., 2005). Studies in eastern and southernAfrican countries have predominantly focused on demographic models to makeprojections of student enrolments and teacher requirements (The World Bank, 2000;Kinghorn et al., 2001; UNAIDS/WHO, 2004). To date, AIDS has orphaned around12.3 million children in sub-Saharan Africa, and the number is expected to risesubstantially over the decade (UNICEF-Zambia, 2004). In Zambia, 19% of childrenunder the age of 18, or around 1.1 million children, are orphans (USAID, UNICEF& UNAIDS, 2002). In the Copperbelt Province, there were 344,704 known orphansin 2005 (Central Statistical Office, 2005).

Orphanhood, particularly due to a stigmatized disease such as AIDS, and whenchildren are living in poverty, can interrupt schooling and have long-term educa-tional, emotional and social consequences (Khin-Sand Lwin, 2001; Kanyanta,2004). Children whose mothers have died are likely to move house as a result and areless likely to access school (UNICEF-Zambia, 2004). Many other children are at risk,with an estimated 75,000 street children (Lungwangwa & Macwan’gi, 1996), andover 20,000 child-headed households in Zambia (Central Statistical Office, 2003b).Child-headed households are often extremely vulnerable and impoverished, drivingchildren into work and preventing them from attending school (Kanyanta, 2004).Girls as young as ten may carry heavy responsibilities to care for younger siblings andsick parents (The World Bank, 2000; Kinghorn et al., 2001).

Initiatives are in place to attempt to improve enrolment and attendance of HIV andAIDS-affected children and OVCs (Ministry of Education, 2003). The removal oftuition fees for the primary years in 2003 resulted in a fifty per cent reduction in thenumber of out-of-school children, and improved completion rates. The nationalpolicy on education, Educating our Future (Ministry of Education, 1996) emphasizesflexibility and responsiveness to needs throughout the education system. Teachershortages and widespread poverty have led to the increase in Community Schools tomake primary education accessible to local children, striving to attain in four yearsthe education that children would receive in seven years in the formal educationsystem. However, few of the teachers are formally trained and they are usuallycommunity members and dependent upon the community for their livelihood(UNESCO, 2006).

Loss of teachers and education administrators is also undermining the structure ofeducation systems. Absenteeism has increased as teachers care for family members,are transferred to other government or private sectors to replace personnel lost toAIDS, or become ill themselves (Kelly, 2000; Gilborn et al., 2001; UNESCO, 2004a).Education funding is diverted to cover sick pay, medication and funeral expenses anddeath benefits to surviving family members (Juma, 2000). The remaining teachers areill-equipped to manage increasingly large class sizes with poor resources (Carr-Hill,2002). Approximately 9000 teaching vacancies remain unfilled, while a similar

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420 S. Robson and S. Bonaventure Kanyanta

number of recently qualified teachers are unemployed because the economic sanc-tions which were imposed as conditions for debt cancellation through the HeavilyIndebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC 2005) prevented the government fromhiring them (Central Statistical Office, 2005). Following further debt cancellation andaid increases agreed by G8 at Gleneagles, July 2005, Zambia is now able to invest inhealth and education (Oxfam, 2006b). Aid agencies and NGOs also contribute totraining for teachers and resources for Community Schools (Oxfam, 2006a).

Curriculum design for cross-cutting HIV and AIDS-related inputs has beeninitiated, targeting community-based education (UNESCO, 2006). In a countrywhere approximately forty per cent of rural women are illiterate, improved access tohealth education is clearly crucial to reduce infection (Global Campaign forEducation, 2004). Barnett et al. (1995) stressed the importance of health promotingenvironments in schools. The integration of HIV and AIDS education within thecurriculum can help to dispel misunderstandings and stigma surrounding the diseaseto promote healthy attitudes and acceptance of affected individuals (Baggaley et al.,1999). The involvement and education of the community, including learners’ familymembers, is a potentially powerful element of a school’s health promoting environ-ment (Campbell & Lubben, 2003). However, this highlights new skills requirementsfor the teacher to enable effective community liaison and develop understanding andempathic relationships with families affected by the epidemic (Baggaley et al., 1999;Carrington & Robinson, 2006; Te Riele, 2006).

Teacher education programmes could help teachers to contribute to a strong healthpromoting school environment by providing them with HIV and AIDS contentknowledge, the skills to design and deliver inclusive lifeskills programmes, under-standing of the social, emotional and learning needs experienced by affected students(Te Riele, 2006) and methods to monitor what students have learned (Campbell &Lubben, 2003; Obura & Sinclair, 2005).

Little research has been undertaken in basic schools themselves, to examine theeducational experiences of HIV and AIDS-affected children, OVCs and their teach-ers (Kelly, 2000; Gilborn et al., 2001; Ainsworth & Filmer, 2002). It is timely toexplore the perceptions of education personnel and students regarding the adequacyof responses to the epidemic within the education sector, to identify factors affectingaccess to and quality of basic education for affected students, and to highlight theirunmet needs.

The study

The study arose following the participation of one of the authors in a larger researchproject, ‘HIV/AIDS Orphans and Vulnerable Children: Education Access and ChildLabour in Zambia: A Rapid Assessment and Situational Analysis’, which wasconducted in collaboration with the MoE, USAID, UNICEF, Copperbelt HealthEducation Project and the International Programme on the Elimination of ChildLabour (International Labour Organization, 2003; UNICEF-Zambia, 2004;USAID, UNICEF & UNAIDS, 2004).

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Moving towards inclusive education policies and practices? 421

The objective of the study was to investigate factors which impact on access to andquality of education in basic schools for HIV and AIDS-affected children and OVCsin the Copperbelt district of Zambia. Factors related to attendance and schoolcompletion; quality of learning and teaching; strategic planning; staffing andresources for policy and practice development were considered. In the preparatoryphase a pilot study was conducted with a sample of education personnel who wereable to provide informed comments on the design of the study and helped to refinethe data collection tools. The study protocol was approved by a university ethicscommittee and endorsed by the MoE.

The MoE assisted the authors with the selection of six of the nine Copperbeltdistricts with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS (34–39%) and the highest numberof OVCs and helped them to identify and gain access to schools. The acting headteacher at one of the intended schools declined the invitation to participate in thestudy. An alternative school was therefore selected. Four Government Schools withthe highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates (in Chililabomwe, Ndola, Kalulushi andMufulira districts) and two Community Schools in impoverished communities inKitwe and Chingola were selected. Informed consent was obtained from all partici-pants, and none of the individuals invited to respond to questionnaires or to take partin interviews or focus groups refused to participate.

In each district students, teachers, senior management and administration teamsresponded to questionnaires and were involved in subsequent discussions concerningthe impact of HIV and AIDS on their schools and services. A total of six staff focus-group discussions were held, one in each of the participating schools, each involvingsix to eight personnel. Four student focus groups, each involving gender balancedgroups of six to eight students from grades four to eight, were also held in schools.Three further focus groups for orphaned children were held with the assistance ofNGOs. Additional data were obtained through group interviews with key informantsfrom the Ministry of Education, including six District Education Board Secretaries,three National Union of Teachers officials, and the Copperbelt Province SpecialEducation Standards Officer (Table 1) and documentary analysis.

Participants were asked about their views on the impact of HIV and AIDS on basiceducation, and invited to make suggestions to improve access to, and quality ofeducation for affected students in their districts and schools. Secondary data includ-ing statistics on student enrolment and attendance and staffing were obtained fromschool and district level statistics and the Central Statistical Offices (CSO).

A limitation of the study was that the data on students’ perceptions of the impactof the epidemic on the education of affected children was obtained from childrenattending school. More extensive research would be required to ensure that the viewsof out-of-school children were equally represented. A further limitation was the lackof good quality data held at district and school level, which impeded a robustassessment of the actual and likely impact of HIV and AIDS on pupil enrolments,attendance, performance and completion. Data on teacher absenteeism, illness andmortality were not reliable due to the absence of a comprehensive system forcollection of data at district level.

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Despite the limitations outlined above, this study provides information on theimpact of the epidemic on basic education for AIDS-affected students which has notbeen previously documented in Zambia and may assist strategic planning and themanagement and support of basic schools in the Copperbelt.

Results

Epidemiological data on known numbers of orphans by district revealed by a recentcensus (Central Statistical Office, 2005) (Table 2) indicated the steady increase in thenumber of orphans in all districts of the Copperbelt during the five-year period 2000–2005. While there were limitations to the available demographic and epidemiologicaldata on individual schools and communities, the indications are that the proportionof HIV and AIDS-affected children and OVCs in the six districts of the Copperbeltwill continue to escalate over the next decade.

Attendance and school completion

The key informants group and four headteachers expressed their concern about thehigh percentage of children in their schools who had been orphaned by AIDS. The

Table 1. Data sources used for the study

Data source Number of respondents Other information

Statistical data Four government basic schoolsTwo Community SchoolsSix District Education Boards Ministry of Education, Central Statistical Office

School statistical data on pupil enrolment, completion, attendance, family history, etc.National and district demographic, health and education data

Key informants Six focus groups Six District Education Board Personnel, three NUT officials, SE Standards Officer and six District HIV and AIDS focal persons; one group per district

School management team interviews

Six interviews Headteacher, Deputy Head or Senior Teacher and School Administration Team from each school

Headteacher/teacher questionnaires

72 individuals Headteacher and representative number of teachers from each participating school

Headteacher/teacher focus groups

48 individuals (40% male, 60% female)

Six to eight participants in each focus group; one group per school

Student focus groups 24 individuals (58% male, 42% female)

Six students per group; one group per school

Student questionnaires 64 individuals (50% male, 50% female)

Even distribution across Grades 4–8 from the six participating schools

Orphan focus groups 12 individuals (60% male, 40% female)

One group in each Community School; three groups under the auspices of NGOs

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Moving towards inclusive education policies and practices? 423

school returns for Term l, 2004 for the six participating schools indicated that thepercentage of orphans varied from 13.33%, i.e. 200 out of a total enrolment of1500 children at School A, to 40%, i.e. 600 out of a total enrolment of 1500 chil-dren at School F. The document analysis and the school survey indicated thatdropout or failure to enrol among HIV and AIDS affected children, orphans andOVCs, mainly due to inability to pay school costs, was a major concern (Kelly,2000; International Labour Organization, 2003). A significant 80% of teacher andhead teacher respondents to questionnaires noted that pupils whose parents dieoften dropped out of school due to economic stresses on households, changes infamily structure, new responsibilities to care for the sick, the elderly or siblings andloss of parental guidance.

Data from key informants and headteachers confirmed that despite the provisionof free basic education (FBE) for Grades 1–7, the financial strain on orphaned fami-lies increases the likelihood that children will fail to enrol or drop out of school. Theexpense of providing appropriate clothing, books and so on prevented many childrenfrom enrolling. Approximately one third of orphans from the three NGO focusgroups reported frequently being absent because they had to work in order to earnmoney for food and clothes. Anecdotal reports from teachers of good students whodropped out after parents died were common, concurring with the findings from aprevious survey (Kanyanta, 2004) that significant numbers of drop-outs were linkeddirectly or indirectly with levels of parental support.

Absenteeism was high for all groups but particularly for older students: approxi-mately 25% of the sample of middle-school students (Grades 5–7) and 40% of upper-basic students (Grades 8 and 9) from all schools surveyed reported that theirschooling had been interrupted due to the absence of both parents. Learners fromchild-headed households were more likely to drop out of education at upper-basiclevel (Grades 8 and 9), since these grades are excluded from the FBE policy (KeyInformants Focus Group).

Table 2. Known orphans by district, Copperbelt Province, 2000–05

District/year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Chililabombwe 13,168 13,984 14,652 15,078 15,427 15,674Chingola 36,971 39,592 41,754 43,197 44,314 45,143Kalulushi 12,152 12,970 13,457 13,827 14,129 14,141Kitwe 74,349 79,284 83,340 85,944 88,072 89,279Luanshya 23,158 24,548 25,684 26,404 26,990 27,404Lufwanyama 8414 8717 8955 9086 9183 9249Masaiti 11,973 12,412 12,758 12,950 13,094 13,179Mpongwe 8756 9080 9336 9479 9586 9650Mufulira 24,466 25,967 27,195 27,977 28,615 29,068Ndola 76,281 81,346 85,510 88,184 90,369 91,917Total 289,688 307,900 322,641 332,126 339,779 344,704

Source: adapted from CSO Zambia HIV/AIDS Epidemiological Projections, 1985–2010, January 2005.

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424 S. Robson and S. Bonaventure Kanyanta

Teachers and teaching

The significant decline in the number of teachers in Zambia is partly attributed tonatural attrition (retirement). A focus group for district educations board officials andother key informants were able to provide data on decreases in the number of upperbasic-school teachers from 43,694 in 2001 to 40,781 in 2004, a decline of 6.7% inthe whole country (Central Statistical Office, 2005). However, comparative datafrom the primary and middle years was unavailable. AIDS, which claimed the lives of1060 teachers in the Copperbelt in 2003 is undoubtedly a factor (Central StatisticalOffice, 2005). The proportion of the remaining teachers who are trained is high(96.5%), but sanctions imposed on the government by The World Bank andInternational Monetary Fund have prevented newly trained teachers from being hiredfor the past four years (Key Informants Focus Group).

One District Education Board Secretary for the Copperbelt reported:

The worst-hit are basic schools and high schools in urban areas, where we are losing fourteachers each month. In addition to the deaths of teachers, scores of teachers arebedridden and are not working in school. The situation is getting out of hand, especiallynow that no teachers are being recruited. Positions left vacant by teachers who have diedcannot be filled.

(District Education Board Secretary in Key Informants Focus Group, 16 April 2005)

Attendance at funerals and family responsibilities were reported as the other maincauses of absenteeism. At the upper-basic level 90% of teachers said they had beenabsent for five days or less during the current term, one third of whom reported noabsences. At lower and middle basic-school level 45% of all teachers reported noabsences. However, some heads reported having teachers absent with persistentillness, mainly in urban Government Schools, where other teachers often taught thesick teachers’ classes. Thus healthy teachers’ workloads increased and teacher–pupilratios ranged from 1:50 to 1:120 (Key Informants Focus Group). Schools faced achoice between turning students away illegally and trying to meet their needs inexcessively large classes (Key Informants Focus Group).

Factors affecting quality of learning

A majority of 85% of the key informants and 70% of teachers in focus groupsobserved that a limitation of studies on AIDS-affected children and OVCs wasthat the focus was often restricted to enrolment. Poverty and vulnerability wereinextricably linked as these students were more likely to be malnourished and toreceive inadequate medical care, adversely affecting enrolment, attendance andperformance (Kitwe District Education Board Secretary, personal communica-tion, 16 April 2005). Teachers commented that participation and quality oflearning was affected since orphans often came to school poorly dressed, hungry,sleep-deprived after long hours of household labour, and psychologically andemotionally traumatized.

A Community School focus group discussed this issue:

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Moving towards inclusive education policies and practices? 425

We have to wake as early as 0500 hours each morning to draw water from communal tapsin five or ten litre-containers and carry them around to the townships where we are paidZMK 1,500.00 which we use buy our food or school requisites. This affects ourperformance in class.

(11-year-old male participant, focus group B, 10 May, 2005)

Approximately half of the students in focus groups sometimes looked after theirsiblings instead of attending school. OVCs from both Community Schools andGovernment Schools commented on their emotional loss, and girls in particularreported missing their parents’ love and care. Some orphans reported that anxiety andthe need to devote time to income-generating and other activities had affected theirperformance in class. No significant gender or age differences in participants wasnoted with respect to income generation, caring for siblings, lack of healthcare orhunger.

Some orphans reported being bullied or accused of having HIV or AIDS, particu-larly those whose parents were known or suspected of having died of AIDS. Some20% of the orphans said that they had been sent away from school when they had nopens or books. However, one focus group of orphans reported that they receivedconsiderable sympathy within their Community School.

A significant majority of 92% of teachers and headteachers agreed that teachersshould be trained to provide pastoral care to AIDS-affected children and OVCs.Teachers reported having comforted children who seemed particularly distressedand sometimes referred the affected children to the school Guidance and Counsel-ling teacher for follow-up. Fifty-five teachers agreed that counselling should beavailable within the school system for orphans, but there was no systematicapproach for identifying children in need and limited resources to provideemotional and psychological support, since not all schools have Guidance andCounselling teachers.

Many of the school staff and NGOs in all six districts surveyed participate invarious unofficial support and monitoring activities (supplying food, clothes, keepingorphan registers, soliciting for bursaries and so on) that go beyond traditional educa-tional roles. In both government and Community Schools, teacher focus groupssuggested that physical and psycho-social health should be considered when assessingthe performance of OVCs.

Teacher questionnaires asked about the extent to which learning opportunities fororphans were differentiated according to their needs: 30 respondents did not considerthat work was appropriately differentiated, while 28 considered that work wasdifferentiated to meet orphans’ learning needs. A total of 20% of teachers did not feelthat Teacher Training Colleges train teachers adequately to meet the vocational,emotional and life skills needs of HIV and AIDS affected pupils.

Provision appeared to vary most in Community schools, notably in terms of build-ings, trained teachers, materials and access to resources. Community schools mustregister with the MoE, but the level of support and supervision received variedsubstantially: some schools received termly grants, salaried teachers and professionalguidance; some reported receiving significant support from the national coordinating

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network whilst others operated in greater isolation (District Education Board Secre-tary and Key Informants Focus Group, 20 April, 2005).

Strategic planning, policy and school development

The data suggest that 65% of headteachers and teachers in this study considered thatthe national, multi-sectoral HIV and AIDS policy focuses largely on prevention anddoes not effectively address the complexity of factors impacting on the quality ofeducation of HIV and AIDS-affected children and OVCs. Whilst preventative workmust continue it is important that the health and educational challenges faced byaffected students and teachers are also supported (Franks et al., 2004) and thatsystems for effective record keeping, monitoring and support for HIV affected staff orstudents are developed.

HIV and AIDS related increases in teacher absenteeism, and the significant declinein the number of teachers, partly due to natural attrition (retirement, prolongedillness) but also due to teacher mortality and the ban on recruitment, have affectedclass size (Kanyanta, 2005; UNESCO, 2006). Inevitably this has impacted on thequality of teaching, learning and assessment and made it more difficult for headteachers to involve staff in the development of a school mission and school develop-ment plans. In addition, the rising number of deaths of educational planners andsupervisors appear to have impacted on monitoring and supervision of schools,although this is an area requiring further research.

A well-functioning education management and information (EMIS) system atschool and district level could inform the supervision of schools and become a toolfor more comprehensive teacher guidance and professional development (UNESCO,2004b). The imperative to improve the staff: student ratio in schools and the need forteachers to be better prepared, supported and resourced to deal with large class sizesand the social, emotional and educational needs of students were emphasized.

Poverty in HIV and AIDS-affected families is directly associated with quality oflearning and educational outcomes. Multi-agency monitoring of household circum-stances could help to ensure that HIV and AIDS-affected children and OVCs werenot disadvantaged in terms of educational opportunities and might help to reduceabsenteeism. Improving student enrolment at upper-basic school level (grade 7 andbeyond) was considered to be critical. Participants pointed out that secondary school,the only route to grade 12 school-leaver examinations and most other opportunitiesfor further education and training, is excluded from the FBE policy and prohibitiveexpenses for uniforms, books, transport, tuition fees and boarding fees are oftenincurred.

Discussion: moving towards inclusive educational policies and practices?

This study indicates the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on basic education inthe participating schools for AIDS-affected children and OVCs. Poverty is a persis-tent and inexorable factor limiting schools’ ability to provide quality education for

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Moving towards inclusive education policies and practices? 427

students (Central Statistical Office, 2003b). The MoE, with the support of otheragencies and non-governmental organizations, faces ongoing challenges. Theseinclude the redirection of resources to teacher support and school development; theemployment of trained teachers to some of the 9000 vacancies; the restructuring oftraditional educational delivery to provide appropriate curricula and learning oppor-tunities; the provision of counselling and emotional support, and essential nutrition,clothing and equipment to students (The World Bank, 2002) in order to alleviatebarriers to participation.

Many students carry responsibilities within the family that prevent them fromattending school regularly and create stress and anxiety which impact on their capac-ity to learn effectively. Lack of training and large class sizes due to teacher shortagesaffect the quality of teaching and learning, and there are perceived inefficiencies insystems for strategic planning, monitoring and support to schools. These factorsthreaten the achievement of the inclusive vision of Education for All to:

attract and retain children from marginalised and excluded groups….actively seeking outchildren who are not enrolled, and responding flexibly to the circumstances and needs ofall learners ….

(World Education Forum, 2000)

The MoE and non-governmental organization policies have largely focused onprevention of infection and on achieving increased participation in primary educa-tion. A further challenge facing Zambia is not only to provide the right to basic educa-tion, but also to strengthen schools as inclusive, caring and supportive communities(Booth & Ainscow, 2002) and to provide more flexible opportunities for participationand learning.

The national policy on education, Educating our Future (Ministry of Education,1996) emphasized flexibility and responsiveness to needs in education. Curriculumdevelopments are encouraging and will help to equip young people with income-generating skills, personal, health, emotional and social skills, and critical learningskills (Campbell & Lubben, 2003; Kanyanta, 2004) and may begin to reduce barriersto learning and participation such as early marriage and teenage pregnancy (Amsaleet al., 2005).

Further research is required to investigate the extent to which teachers’ attitudestowards HIV-affected children and OVCs affect the quality of their teaching (Frankset al., 2004). Te Riele (2006, p. 62) directs our attention to the emotional dimensionof schooling and care as a priority. Health-promoting school environments can helpto eradicate the stigma associated with the disease which marginalizes affected indi-viduals and families from their communities (Baggaley et al., 1999; Campbell &Lubben, 2003; Franks et al., 2004). However, large class sizes continue to hamper theefforts of even well-trained teachers to meet the emotional needs of their pupils. Aimswithin the strategic plan (Ministry of Education, 2003, p. 37) to improve teacher tostudent ratios to 1:45 are welcomed.

Whilst Community Schools continue to provide a significant component ofprimary education, improved monitoring and supervision would help to ensure that

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they have trained and paid teachers, appropriately supported, with access to qualityteaching materials and appropriate facilities. Closer collaboration between agenciescould also help students who have difficulty in attending school to access alternativeopportunities to learn, such as distant and flexible learning, supported by radiobroadcasts and independent learning resource packs.

A positive outcome of this study was that students, teachers and other professionalsfreely discussed issues concerning HIV and AIDS and its impact on education in acontext where such issues are often met with silence or denial. Participants high-lighted many of the shortcomings in the current basic education policy and practicesand it is important that they continue to have a voice. School communities that valueand respect members and provide a safe learning environment in which members canexpress themselves, build awareness and develop capabilities are more likely to beinclusive (Carrington & Robinson, 2006).

Notes on contributors

Sue Robson is Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes in the School of Educa-tion, Communication and Language Sciences, and a member of the ResearchCentre for Learning and Teaching (CfLAT) at Newcastle University, Newcastleupon Tyne, UK. Her research interests include staff and students’ perceptionsof effective thinking, learning and teaching in diverse learning communities.

Sylvester Bonaventure Kanyanta was a student on the Master’s of EducationProgramme at Newcastle University, 2004–05, and now lectures at the ZambiaInstitute of Special Education. His role includes developing curriculum forinclusive education for teacher education programmes and developing capacityfor inclusion in District Education Boards in Zambia.

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