CHAPTER ONE A

INTRODUCTION

Globally youth are at the epicentre of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune

Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) pandemic with almost half of all new infections in people

aged 15–24 years (Monascha & Mahyb,2006 ; Wilson, Wright, Safrit, & Rudy, 2010 ).

Getting infected or being disclosed to, the seropositive status can be an emotionally stressful

or even a traumatic event for youth, because HIV/AIDS is historically associated with death and

it is highly stigmatised (Logie & Gadalla, 2009; Sawyer, Drew, Yeo, &Britto, 2007; Vanable, Carey,

Blair, & Littlewood, 2006 ).

In a Kenyan study, Gachanja (2015 ) described the post-disclosure experiences of HIV-

positive school going children as shocking, disheartening and enraging. Therefore, being

diagnosed with HIV/AIDS can induce a psychosocial burden in youth with anenormous impact

on their daily life like participation in school, academic performance and their socio-economic

status in society. Further, post-diagnosis or post-disclosure health challenges, ongoing

treatment, stigma and discrimination, as well as changes in future plans and expectations can

evoke significant ongoing distress that continues to substantially challenge the wellbeing of

YLWHA (Kyngäs, 2004 ).

A major daily stressor featuring in previous studies with YLWHA is stigma. Stigma

intersects strongly with feelings about the self, social behaviour and health outcomes (Quinn &

Earnshaw, 2013). Living with HIV/AIDS might be complicated considerably when the

environment fails to respond resiliently to disclosure, stigma and emerging special needs of

YLWHA.

According to World Vision (2000), the effect of HIV/AIDS has been felt by countries and

has had devastating effects on the development of the economy, education and agricultural

sectors. In the education sector, for example learning has been negatively felt when teachers
 die. As a result, this affects children because they stay for some days without being taught. In other
cases, 2children do not concentrate in class due to their parents sickness or death or being

stigmatized in school because of being sick. United Nations Education Scientific and cultural

Organisation (2007) observed that in classwork, these children do not answer questions well

while others keep off from play because of being stigmatized by their friends and even

teachers (Ugunja, 2006). Hence these have adverse effects on learner’s performance in

classroom. This means that unless there is an urgent intervention, more countries will suffer a

great set back in educating their children due to the devastating effect of the HIV/AIDS

pandemic. 2

Statement of the problem

Since the first case was diagnosed in 1985, HIV/AIDS has continued to have a

devastating effect on the Nigerian Population. It has greatly affected the Educational sector,

economy and productive work thus posing a challenge on economic growth, human

development and education fraternity. This is because people who are infected lack the energy

to work. Health care workers and teachers are dying at a very high rate and these paralyzes 2

educational sector. In addition some children have been infected with HIV/AIDS while

others are orphans after the death of their parents. This forces these children to terminate

schooling due to Social stigma and financial constraints in order to head their families and

provide food for their siblings (Ayieko, 1998).

In classroom situation, some children are sick and do not participate fully in thier academic

activities which affects their Educational achievement . In addition, victimization and

Societal stigmatization of both the infected and affected children are rampant by both

teachers and their fellow classmates. Therefore the increased morbidity of children,

absenteeism of teachers and children, coupled with poor academic achievements are a

combination of factors that have caused havoc in education. It is thus within this context that
this study sought to investigate 3the impact of societal stigma of HIV/AIDS students towards academic
achievements in some selected senior secondary schools in Alkaleri L. G. A Bauchi

Purpose of the study

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of societal stigma of HIV/AIDS

students towards academic achievements in some selected senior secondary schools in

Alkaleri L. G. A Bauchi.

Specific Objectives of the Research

1. To find out the characteristics of HIV/AIDS-related stigma among Senior secondary school

students in Alkaleri LGA Bauchi

2. To examine gender related differences on how society stigmatized Students living with HIV/

AIDS in Alkaleri LGA Bauchi

3. To identity factors responsible for social stigma on YLWHA (students) in Alkaleri LGA Bauchi

4. To figure out whether social stigma of HIV /AIDS students has effect on their academic

achievements

Research Questions

1. What are the characteristics of HIV/AIDS-related stigma among Senior secondary school

students in Alkaleri LGA Bauchi?

2. Is there gender related differences on how society stigmatized Students living with HIV/ AIDS

in Alkaleri LGA Bauchi?

3. What are the factors responsible for social stigma on YLWHA (students) in Alkaleri LGA

Bauchi?

4. To what extent does social stigma of HIV /AIDS students has effect on their academic

achievements?
Significance of the Study

It is an undeniable fact that HIV/AIDS crises and related stigma have adversely affected the

educational sector. It is therefore imperative that strategic and policy measures be adopted to

curb HIV/AIDS prevalence reducing its hold on children to ensure quality and quantity

achievement of the children‘s aspirations, in as far as their academic progression is

concerned. Such strategic and policy measures, however, need to be based on solid

empirical evidence. This could be done by assessing the impact of societal stigma of

HIV/AIDS students towards academic achievements in some selected senior secondary

schools in Alkaleri L. G. A Bauchi.

It is thus hoped that the recommendations emanating from the findings of this study will

be useful to the institution‘s managers in their attempt to alleviate some of the problems

they face with regards to meeting educational needs of the students living with

HIV/AIDS. The study is also expected to be useful to educational policy makers when

formulating policies that concern HIV/AIDS pandemic; being more sensitive to the needs

of the infected students and designing HIV/AIDS awareness programs that prohibit

discrimination and stigmatization of the infected students . 4It is also hoped that better

understanding of this matter can help healthcare professionals, school management and

government to develop and implement stigma-reduction programs designed for school-based

adolescents. Such programs will also contribute to reduction of stigma/discriminatory actions

and facilitate HIV prevention services and treatment which in turn reduce negative effect on

educational achievement. 4In theoretical context, the study is expected to contribute to the

advancement of knowledge about4 impact of societal stigma of HIV/AIDS students towards

academic achievement. The study is expected to assist the government of Nigeria, civil society

groups that deal 4with HIV/AIDS and other philanthropic organizations to understand the needs
of HIV/AIDS infected students and consequently provide the necessary resource allocation to

these students to mitigate against some of the problems they face.5

Basic Assumptions of the Study

The study was guided by the following assumptions:

1. That all respondents would cooperate and provide correct and reliable answers

2. That the students HIV/AIDS positive status does not in any way interfere with their

academic pursuits

3. That the government has put in necessary policy framework concerning education

of students living with HIV/AIDS5

4. The respondents were willing to give the right information without fear

or being intimidated. 5

Scope of the Study

The study dealt only with the educational aspect of students living with HIV/AIDS,it's related

stigma and especially looked at the unique hindrances that HIV/AIDS face in according

them an educational opportunity. It only involved teachers and studentsat senior secondary

school level as it was hoped that they would be able to understand the subject under

study. Junior secondary students were excluded as they were deemed to be too young to

comprehend the questions and answer appropriately. The population included in the

sample were those in session at the time of the study. Those absent were not included 5even if

they would have had some useful inputs. The study was confined to the study locality i.e

Alkaleri LGA Bauchi.

Limitations

This study encountered a number of limitations which impeded effective answering of the
research questions. All secondary schools in the country were expected to have implemented

strategies to reduce HIV/AIDS related stigma among the students. Therefore, effective analysis

on the impact of HIV/AIDS related stigma amongs students in the country requires consideration of as
many schools as possible. However, due to time, manpower and financial

resource constraints, it is not practically possible to cover all the schools in the country. This

means that only a small sample of the schools were involved. Thus, the secondary schools

involved are a very small fraction of the total number of schools in the country, were involved in

this study. The findings of this study were therefore confined to the sampled schools and can

not be overly generalized to all secondary schools in the country.