"Teachers are at high risk of getting infected with HIV and Aids, and already one-third of them are likely to be infected with the virus," according to a report presented by a state-appointed education assessment team.

The rate among teachers mirrors Health Ministry statistics showing an estimated 27% of Zimbabweans aged 18-49 are infected with HIV, with at least 3 000 deaths a week.

Southern Africa is at the epicentre of the global Aids pandemic.

The shock contents of the report follow another report which concluded that at leat 55 percent of Zimbabwe's troops were HIV-positive.

The report was delivered to a workshop considering introducing HIV and Aids awareness classes at teacher training colleges and into the junior and secondary school curricula.

"There seemed to be an assumption that the teachers are so knowledgeable about HIV and its transmission that they are willing to talk about it with their students, and that all teachers will make acceptable counselors and mentors," said Josiah Mahlangu, national commissioner for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in Zimbabwe.

Teachers had been viewed wrongly as persons who just delivered the curriculum, without bearing in mind "the teacher was also very much at risk," Mahlangu said.

Zimbabwe has almost 80 000 teachers and at one stage 3.8m children in school, although enrollment is believed to have dropped due to current economic hardship.

Many parents are no longer able to afford the fees which increased last week from 300 Zimbabwe dollars to 300 000 Zimbabwe dollars a term.
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