HIV/AIDS Education through Formal Curriculum and Texts in Bangladesh

The education sector provides students with facts about HIV/AIDS which have emerged as major public health and socio-economic problems affecting students. The purpose of this study was to assess students¿ knowledge on HIV/AIDS, attitudes towards AIDS education and its associated impacts on them and cultural sensitivity of the open discussion on HIV/AIDS. A total of 384 students in the age group 11-19 were selected by simple random sampling technique. A self-administered survey questionnaire and KIIs were used to collect the required data from the study participants. More than half of the students (54%) were selected from urban area and the rest were from rural area. The findings of the study suggest that a good number of students (37%) were found with high knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Again, a substantial number of students (61%) showed conservative attitudes towards AIDS education. Students of urban area were found with high knowledge and those who were the followers of Islam tended to show conservative attitudes towards AIDS education.