Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter
( L - R ) Rose-Marie Ryder, Darcy Tulloch-Williams and Novia Condell
Some children affected by HIV/AIDS say they do not confide in guidance counsellors and teachers out of fear that their personal information will be revealed to other persons.
Some advocates have therefore urged that stiffer penalties be levied against educators who breach confidentiality.
"I am not able to go to my guidance counsellor and say what is going on in my life because of fear of other teachers knowing and what this would do to me in the end," Suzie, a 17-year-old student whose mother is living with HIV/AIDS, told a Gleaner Editors' Forum, held yesterday at the newspaper's North Street head offices.
"Confidentiality is a major problem. I don't trust my guidance counsellors, I don't trust my teachers (because) they are supposed to be persons that you can go to, but you can't," she added.
Jonathan, another student, said when he found out that his mother was living with HIV/AIDS, he kept it to himself. "Because somebody told me that the only secret you have is the ones you keep to yourself."
A major issue
Patricia Watson, regional director for HIV/AIDS for Panos Caribbean, said feedback from children with whom she has interfaced daily reveal that confidentiality is a major issue in schools.
"In some instances, it appears as if the teachers are on another planet because they are not caring, and the children are not performing as best as they could," Ms. Watson told the forum.
"All of the children in our group are bright children, but there are things that are preventing them from performing in the schools, and there are people calling them names and teachers not listening to them when they report it," she added.
Meanwhile, Darcy Tulloch-Williams, executive administrator for Mustard Seeds Communities said the Ministry of Education and Youth should improve its policy on HIV/AIDS, to ensure that children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS are not discriminated against.
"Many of our children are developmentally delayed because they come out of challenging situations where there wasn't early childhood stimulation so what you find is that they have become slow learners," Mrs. Tulloch-Williams said.
And Novia Condell, Children and HIV/AIDS specialist at UNICEF, told the forum that persons should be sanctioned for breach of confidentiality.
"It is very important that we stress the issue of confidentiality when it comes to HIV/AIDS because if you do not respect the child's privacy (and) if you do not respect the fact that they have given you an awesome responsibility then what you are doing is really almost disabling the child to function normally," she said.
An estimated 20,000 children in Jamaica are affected by HIV/AIDS, some of whom are living with the disease. Close to 300 are receiving anti-retroviral treatment.
By early 2007, an estimated 5,125 children under the age of 15 were orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
"The guidance counsellors are really not in the good books of the children," said Rose-Marie Ryder, coordinator at Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JAS), noting that students often hear educators discussing other students' personal business.
She noted that her organisation has trained some of them but the others need to be reached in a real way.
Contacted yesterday, Dr. Grace Kelly, President of the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counsellors said the issue of trust between students and guidance counsellors is an age old concern.
"But that doesn't have to be a reality, she said, addingthat counsellors have been trained not to divulge information.
However, in instances where this happens, she noted that the Ministry of Education and Youth has the power to terminate their services.
name changed to protect identity.petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com
