The American Federation of Teachers has formed a partnership with Zimbabwe's largest union of educators--the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA)--to confront the growing problem of teachers dying from HIV/AIDS in that country.

Some 70 percent of the more than 36 million people worldwide who are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, live in sub-Saharan Africa. All levels of African society are being hit by the disease. However, for reasons that are not entirely known, HIV infection is very high among teachers. An estimated 860,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa lost their teachers to AIDS in 1999--one-tenth (86,000) in Zimbabwe alone.

With support from a U.S. State Department grant, the AFT will develop a training-the-trainer program for teachers that ZIMTA will use to inform members about HIV/AIDS, ways to prevent infection, treatment options and their rights to continue employment, explains AFT health and safety specialist Darryl Alexander, who is assisting the AFT international affairs department with the educational project.

After conducting a needs assessment in May, the AFT will bring a delegation of ZIMTA leaders and trainers to the United States to visit our union and other labor groups that are engaged in HIV/AIDS education efforts. The union expects to develop the training program beginning in July and start training in the fall.

The AFT is currently looking for assistance from affiliates that are working on the issue of HIV/AIDS. Contact AFT international affairs department staffer Joseph Davis at 202/393-7484.

The percentage of high school graduates who go directly to college is on the rise, says a national organization that tracks these data closely. In addition, the gap in the college-going rate between whites and African-Americans has narrowed to 9 percent from 14 percent in 1992, the year the National Education Goals Panel established the benchmark from which states should strive to improve. The panel reports that 39 states improved their rates significantly. The five showing the greatest improvement in the past decade are the District of Columbia (from 33 percent to 58 percent), California (from 50 percent to 66 percent), South Carolina (from 43 percent to 59 percent), Massachusetts (from 60 percent to 73 percent) and Delaware (from 57 percent to 67 percent). College enrollment figures vary widely from state to state, from 70 percent in Massachusetts to 40 percent in Nevada.

The figures for all the states can be found online at www.negp.gov.