TO further heighten public awareness of HIV/AIDS, the Ministry of Education, in partnership with Scotiabank Jamaica, is inviting preparatory and primary schools to register for the National HIV/AIDS Schools Debating Competition.

The deadline for participation in the competition, which is being held under the theme, “Speak Up, Speak Out”, is November 10. Registration forms are available at the ministry’s regional offices, at its website www.moey.gov.jm, and at Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) branches islandwide.

Forms should be returned to debate co-ordinator Dr Deloris Brissett at the Scotiabank Centre in downtown Kingston or by fax at 967-1691.

“Schools participating in the competition should ensure that they select a co-ordinator and a coach for their respective teams,” Brissett said in a release to the media on Friday.

She added that schools should not select a team until “they have done an awareness training on HIV/AIDS with students”.

Brissett noted that schools would be given “two student readers, two teachers’ texts and two dramatised stories to further prepare them for the competition, and increase awareness in students of HIV/AIDS”.

The HIV/AIDS education programme was introduced in public schools 15 years ago. Among the achievements under that programme is the formulation and Cabinet approval of the National HIV/AIDS Policy for the Management of HIV/AIDS in the school system. At the same time, several local and international agencies have assisted the ministry, including UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, the World Bank and the Japanese International Corporation Agency (JICA). Inter-ministry, and inter-departmental collaboration and assistance have also been significant.