HIV / AIDs in Africa: Implications for Educational Planning in the 21st Century

HIV/AIDS is a global phenomenon which is taking an unproportional toll on the African continent. It is worrisome that out of 36 million people currently living with HIV/AIDS globally Africa has the misfortune of being credited with 25 million of that number. The knowledge of some 1.2 million children below 15 years living with HIV/AIDS and about 12 million orphaned add to the discomfort associated with the HIV/AIDS phenomenon. The paper examined the implications of Africa’s unfortunate prominent role in the HIV/AIDS phenomenon to educational planning in the region. Appropriate literatures were reviewed to gather information. The literatures revealed that poverty and illiteracy placed Africa at the forefront of the HIV/AIDS problem. Furthermore, education plans lack adequate provisions to cater for school children living with AIDS as well as orphans of school age whose parents became HIV/AIDS victims. Also, education plans tend to gloss over the fact that teachers are equally susceptible to the pandemic and should make provisions for the replacement of those who may fall victims. The paper recommends that the inadequacies in the education plans of various African nations be corrected so that the educational problems arising from the HIV/AIDS phenomenon can be more effectively addressed