Abstract:

The former Minister of Education in South Africa recently (February 2009) stated that education authorities will not be making condoms available to learners at school. In her opinion, “…holding teachers responsible for distributing condoms would make teaching very, very difficult” (Cape Times, 2009). On the contrary, Han and Bannish (2009), despite acknowledging a dissident view which says that condom availability in schools may encourage sexual activity, argue that one way of increasing condom access for adolescents is to make condoms available in schools. Utilizing a sample of 371 teachers from primary and secondary schools in rural areas of the eastern Free State region, South Africa, the study investigates perceptions of teachers on condom availability in schools in rural areas through a structured questionnaire. The sample of this study was obtained from three hundred and seventy one (371) teachers (aged between 25 and 60 years of age) from primary and secondary schools in rural areas in the eastern Free State region, South Africa. Ninety (24%) of the sample was male whilst an overwhelming majority (281, 76%) were female. These teachers were selected because of their first hand experience of the difficulties overshadowing schools in rural settings i.e. under-resourced communities, long distances to health facilities, inaccessible of government’s social safety nets. The study finds that the challenge of HIV/AIDS remains a threat with which all teachers must grapple, and one to which the education system must respond. Some teachers are willing to meaningfully engage in the fight against HIV despite being hamstrung by prohibitions, norms as well as prevailing attitudes. Therefore, the plea for schools to join on-site condom availability with HIV education programmes is not misplaced. We strongly advocate and support an eclectic approach which forges a combination of life-saving information sharing and preventive activities that are well-coordinated, confidential, efficient and sustainable

Keywords:

Teachers, condom availability, schools, learners, South Africa.