The impact of HIV/AIDS education through formal curriculum and texts in Bangladesh: A study on secondary and higher secondary students

Background: The education sector in Bangladesh provides students with facts about HIV/AIDS which may emerge as a major public health and socioeconomic problem affecting students. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of HIV/AIDS education through Formal Curriculum and Texts (FCT) on secondary and higher secondary students in Bangladesh. Methods: Using multistage cluster sampling technique, a total of 384 students aged between 11-19 years were chosen from four secondary and higher secondary institutions in Bangladesh and interviewed through a predesigned structured questionnaire. For triangulation of the quantitative findings, the study employed Key Informant Interview (KII) technique to collect qualitative data from the teachers. Results: The findings of the study show that a little more than half of the students (53.1 percent) reported that HIV/AIDS education prevented students from having unprotected intercourse while 52.60 percent of them stated that it helped to increase self-efficacy. Again, a significant proportion of the students (70.1 percent) said that HIV/AIDS education removed their misconceptions. The results of the current study demonstrated that students of urban educational institution, secondary students, followers of Islam, students having service as the source of household income, and those having more income showed greater propensity to report that AIDS education through FCT made them more conscious of HIV/AIDS. It can be said that the textbooks of secondary and higher secondary students lack sufficient information about HIV/AIDS. Conclusion: Therefore, the Government of Bangladesh may take an initiative to include more information about HIV/AIDS in the textbooks of secondary and higher secondary students. Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Curriculum, Education,School student, Bangladesh