Socio-Economic Impact of HIV and AIDS in Tamil nadu

Table 6.6
School attendance of children In the last academic year by type of household
6-14 Years HIV households Non-HIV households
Boys Girls All Boys Girls All
No. of days absent during last academic year (averages) 10.6 8.7 9.7 5.8 5.3 5.5
Reasons for absence (%)*
1. Child unwell 69.0 69.4 69.2 75.4 74.4 74.9
2. Parent unwell 18.1 19.8 18.9 7.2 6.7 6.9
3. Went out of station 39.7 33.3 36.6 37.7 36.5 37.1
4. Not paid fees/not allowed to attend 6.0 5.4 5.7 1.3 1.8 1.5
5. School environment not conducive 1.7 0.9 1.3 0.3 -- 0.2
6. Child refused to attend 7.8 5.4 6.6 -- -- -
7. Had to attend social function 18.1 6.3 12.3 -- -- --
8. Had to look after younger siblings/attend to HH chores 1.7 -- 0.9 -- -- --
9. Others 2.6 0.9 1.8 -- -- --
15-18 years
No. of days absent during last academic year (averages) 7.9 9.0 8.3 6.3 6.1 6.2
Reasons for absence (%)*
1. Child unwell 58.8 50.0 54.8 75.7 72.9 74.3
2. Parent unwell 35.3 21.4 29.0 20.6 16.6 18.6
3. Went out of station 47.1 35.7 41.9 52.4 46.4 49.5
4. Not paid fees/not allowed to attend 11.8 -- 6.5 0.5 2.2 1.4
5. School environment not conducive -- -- -- 0.5 0.6 0.5
6. Child refused to attend -- -- -- 2.1 0.6 1.4
7. Had to attend social function 5.9 14.3 9.7 24.3 30.4 27.3
8. Had to look after younger siblings/attend to HH chores 5.9 7.1 6.5 0.5 1.1 0.8
9. Others -- -- -- 1.0 1.1 1.1
* The percentages do not add to 100 due to multiple answers.
There are interesting differences in the
reasons for absence between the two
types of households. The percentage of
children not attending school due to ill
health of the parents is obviously much
higher for the children belonging to HIV
households in both the age groups. The
other reason is non-payment of fees/not
being allowed to attend. In both types of
households, another important reason
for not attending school seems to be
the ‘child himself/herself being unwell’,
going out of station, or attending social
functions.
6.7 Reasons for
discontinuation of schooling
The survey results indicate that the
presence of an HIV infected individual
in a household does affect the children’s
schooling. Though the enrolment of
children in schools is affected only
to a small extent, the continuation of
schooling emerges as a greater problem.
Generally, it is found that the reasons
for children dropping out of school
are similar for both HIV and non-HIV
households. A number of children from
Impact of HIV and AIDS on the Education of Children
83