Should Health Officials Alert Teachers of HIV or Aids Students in Their School

   Teachers are perhaps ther most uninformed professionas on earth when it comes to being aware of students who have HIV or AIDs in their schools.  This, of course, is because health records are confidential and are only to be shared if the patient requests.  This, however, does not help teacvhers who are constantly in contact with students who have AIDS or HIV.  The knowledge that several students in the school are victims of these illnesses, however, should be shared with each teacher of those students so that provisions can be made for them in cases where they need to take time out for medical assistance. 

    Immediately when others learn that a person has HIV or AIDS, the attitude towards that person may become biased.  Shunning, moving away from the person, gossip, and ostracism may occur.  Many teachers, also, may become guilty of such treatment towards the HIV and AIDS infected person.  Health officials, therefore keep this knowlege away from teachers and other professionals who need to know. 

    One of the advantages of school personnel and teachers knowing this information is that they will be able to more aptly understand what a student is going through at the time.  The psychological, physical, and emotional trauma these sufferers may be experiencing is tremendous.  If they are moody, if they are absent, if they don’t complete assignments, if they are in and out of the hospital, perhaps more empathy can be given on the teacher’s behalf.  It would not come as a devastating shock for a teacher to learn that one of his/her students later died from the disease.  Perhaps the teacher could also be a listening ear to the patients as they struggle to cope with what they know will eventually prove to be fatal.  

    Students who have HIV or AIDS contracted somewhere.  Some of them know how they got the disease, and others don’t.  School officials can provide counseling and support groups for these students.  They can also provide AIDS awareness programs throughout the school so that other students do not contract the disease.  It is a shame when students find out that they have the disease because of unprotected sex or some other way.  It is as if the “Don’t Tell” philosophy is suppose to work.  In one high school, it was only rumors which kept the students from having sex with a particular young lady.  She was said to carry the virus and the young men in the school had her on the “high risk” list of giving them the disease.  How they were warned, or who warned them was unknown. 

    Teachers actually risk their lives daily in the school environment.  They catch colds, the flu, and may contract other diseases.  Their immune system can often be under attack without their knowledge.  Since AIDS is an immune deficiency disease, doesn’t it behoove health officials to alert teachers of students in their immediate environment who are suffering with compromised immune systems?  Yes, this issue has a flip side, and it is true that there may be more negatives from the argued side, than positives.  Teachers  are told about measles, mumps, TB, ADHD, diabetes, vision problems, emotional problems, and just about everything imaginable, so why not add to it HIV and AIDS? 

    There is a good possibility that others within the school setting can be spared the humiliation and suffering of knowing that the disease was passed along to them due to their promiscuity.  If teachers are one arm of the guardians of our society, couldn’t they do their job more effectively by being well informed on the health of their students?  I’m sure if a poll could be taken, over 90% or more of teachers and school personnel would vote “Yes” to this question.  Knowledge means power, and in this case, power to do the right thing for all students in the academic environment.  Think about it, debate it, and hopefully laws can be created to rectify this injustice to both teachers and all students.