Emotionally Safe Schools trains South African teachers to be more sensitive to the emotional needs of pupils, especially those affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. The project is based on an interactive approach to learning that involves the school, the community, and the family. To that end, the programme aims to foster cooperation between educators, parents and communities. It offers counselling training to educators and parents, teaches caregivers parenting skills, and gives advice on how to mobilise communities to establish a network of care and support for children.

Through personal development and classroom intervention workshops, teachers learn how to develop the emotional and social competencies of their learners and to have the skills to recognise, give basic counselling and refer children in distress. Specifically, teachers attend workshops where they are trained to use a participatory approach to learning, as opposed to the traditional transmission approach. In addition to the Personal Development workshop, a Classroom Intervention Workshop is offered that is based on 3 modules: Character Building Values, Win- Win Classroom, Caring and Sharing. They then apply these learning strategies in their classrooms, developing a culture of values that include positive discipline, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and cooperative group work. Teachers are also guided in how to apply for social grants to help those affected by HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS, Children.

Emotionally Safe Schools was launched in 2003 in 21 primary schools in Kwa Ximba in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, Kwa-Zulu Natal, a rural community with a high number of child-headed households and teenage pregnancies, and plagued by HIV/AIDS, crime, alcohol abuse and poverty.