THE DISCREPANCY BETWEEN THE EXPECTED HIV AND AIDS EDUCATION PROGRAMME CONTENT AND THE CONTENT OFFERED TO KENYAN SECONDARY SCHOOL YOUTH

Though it has been almost a decade since the HIV and AIDS Education was introduced in Kenyan schools and there is an indication of high awareness level among the youth, HIV spread still remains high among this group. This however, puts to doubt whether the content offered provides the practical orientation expected of the programme to mitigate the high HIV prevalence among the youth in the world and Kenyan secondary schools in particular. It was against this background that a study on the discrepancy between the expected HIV and AIDS Education programme content and the content offered to Kenyan secondary school youth was conducted. The study specifically attempted to establish the perception of both teachers and students on the HIV and AIDS Education content as well as the discrepancy that exists between what is expected and what is offered as HIV and AIDS Content in Siaya district secondary schools. The study involved 751 secondary school students and 189 teachers. Four instruments were employed in data collection: questionnaire; focus group discussion guide, interview schedule and Document analysis guide. The study concluded that: Students in Siaya District secondary schools have a positive perception of HIV and AIDS content offered to them; Teachers perceive the content as information meant for preparing students to pass in examinations and not to make the students attain the expected behaviour change that may mitigate spread of HIV and AIDS among the youth and; There exists a discrepancy between the proposed HIV and AIDS education content and the one offered in Siaya District secondary schools. This is shown by coherent programme content in the expected HIV and AIDS against a disjointed content appearing in patches in areas of convenient in the secondary education syllabus.