Fury over HIV tests for pupils

SERIOUS concerns are being raised over the government's proposal to introduce "voluntary" HIV-Aids testing in schools around the country.

Teacher unions, legal experts and child rights organisations have demanded to know exactly how this will work.

A meeting between the Department of Health, teacher unions and Department of Basic Education officials was held in Pietermaritzburg yesterday to discuss details of the campaign before it starts next month.

The voluntary campaign is expected to be rolled out at high schools from as early as next month and tests will be performed in private spaces on school premises during weekends and school holidays.

While the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) has described the campaign as a "bomb waiting to explode", parents are worried about not being properly consulted.

Said Cosas president Bongani Mani: "The country has not dealt with the stigma attached. You cannot expect a learner to go for such a life-changing test and then go back to class as if nothing happened.

"Serious medical tests such as HIV and Aids should be done outside the school. Schools are for learning and should remain so."

The National Teachers Union said they were not too happy about the campaign either.

Union deputy president Allen Thompson said they did not want pupils to be used as statistics with the intention of reaching the targeted number of people tested for HIV.

"We are going to get an expert view on whether a child will be able to deal with such news should they test positive. The issue of then supplying support and treatment is another crucial matter," he said.

The South African Democratic Teachers Union raised concerns over the effect the testing would have on teachers.

Spokesperson Nomusa Cembi said: "If the testing takes place we would like full psycho-social support in the form of the presence of parents, social workers and councillors in order to ease the burden on teachers".

Professor Pierre de Vos, a constitutional expert at the University of Cape Town, said the testing had the potential to raise "serious human rights concerns".

"Everyone has the right to bodily integrity, but if you're at school the power relations are generally skewed in favour of the authorities," he said.

"It has to be voluntary in reality, not fake voluntary.

"The concern is whether people have a real choice."

De Vos said there was also a possible problem with pupils being able to keep their status secret.

"Those who test positive are usually kept longer in counselling, so everyone will know their status," he said.

Health Department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said a technical task team was still busy working on the details and cost of the testing campaign.

"Closer to the time the technical committee task team will make an announcement as to how the testing will be implemented," he said.

When asked whether the programme would be a solution to HIV-Aids in schools, given the stigma attached to the disease, Hadebe said: "Well, if it's not we would want to hear what is.

"Stigma is not only a problem inside schools. It is also a problem outside schools.

"One of the things we are doing nationally is to destigmatise Aids."

Child rights group Molo Songololo supported the campaign, saying it would go a long way to fighting HIV-Aids.

Director Patrick Solomons said: "It's a very good initiative and it's long overdue."