HIV positive kids again kicked out of school, ostracism continues

aids logo 369037h 1 50India‘s explosive AIDS epidemic is being fueled by pervasive abuses against children who are affected by HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said in a report.

Few years back, two native children from Kerala were forced to take legal permission to attend school because the school authorities didn’t allow them to enter the premises – their only crime was that they were HIV positive.

That occurred three years before, now the condition is somewhat critical, recently five children were chucked out from a primary school for being HIV positive. Three of them are orphans while two live with their mothers at a shelter home for AIDS patients in Kerala.

The irony is that, they were asked to stop attending school, on the World Aids Day because the parents of the other schoolchildren objected to their coming.

Now for the past three days, these children are studying in a makeshift class run by an orphanage.

However, these cases are not new.

Figuratively:

1. according to official statistics, thousands of children are living with HIV/AIDS.
2. 1.2 million Children under age fifteen in India have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
3. 60,000 children are born infected with the HIV virus every year
4. these newborns join the unknown number of HIV positive children in the country. Activists, however, say that the number of such children is around 250,000 and they have to face the repercussions for without any fault of theirs
5. 2004, 76 children dropped out their studies and start working in industries to look after their younger ones
6. 22 lakh children below 15 years are living with HIV and about 6.4 lakh were newly infected
7. 2005, a boy was kidded out of the school after other parents protests

What could be done?

Government should enact certain policies that would specify that children might never be barred from school solely because they are HIV-positive.

Children suffering from the disease must receive ample medical care, including antiretroviral treatment. Proper care must be showered on the kids whose parents too are infected and are not in a position to take care of their kids.

The government should look into the fee structure of these children as well. AIDS/HIV awareness should be made compulsory in all schools and if any parent is objecting it, they too should be invited to attend the classes.

Bottom line:

It’s not an impossible task, there is a way out of it, however, it seems to be the lack of an integrated multi-disciplinary approach to tackle this rising crisis. And, this can only come when multiple departments at the Centre and State work in cohesion. This is precisely what isn’t happening, and children are paying the price of it by being dragged into child prostitution or forced child labor, further worsening the situation.

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