Impact of HIV/AIDS on Namibian educational sector.

Abstract

HIV/AIDS in the education and training sector in Namibia has been of critical concern to Namibia especially because of its apartheid past and the resultant backlog of untrained and unskilled indigenous population. This unprecedented rate of HIV/AIDS infection and the proportionately high number of educated persons that have fallen victim to the pandemic has magnified the problem for the education planners. Indeed, Namibia’s HIV/AIDS prevalence rate has become a common global reference point and a basic denominator used to explain the low life expectancy, poor standard of living of the majority of the indigenous population despite a very healthy, wealthy and progressive economy.

The potential threat of this YET incurable disease to Namibia’s human capital development cannot be overemphasised, In-spite of its impact and awareness of the severity of HIV challenge, efforts in the education sector appear to be un-coordinated and do not seem to match the magnitude of the challenge. The paper, therefore, discusses the pros and cons of government efforts and business response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and examines further approaches to address the impact of the deadly virus.