Kerala: HIV positive kids back to school

[Guest guest]

HIV positive kids back to school

S Suresh

Kollam, February 18: For seven-year-old Bency and five-year-old

Benson it felt great to be back in school, although it is their fifth

one in the past two years. The only fault of the siblings is that

they are HIV-infected. Having been thrown out from four schools,

mainly due to the objections of parents of schoolmates, the two,

infected with HIV from birth, were admitted into a government primary

school on February 14 thanks to the intervention of the state

government. They got the virus from their parents, who are both dead.

There was an anxious crowd gathered outside the Kaithakuzhy

Government School, as Bency and Benson, carrying schoolbags on their

back and holding the hands of their grandfather Geevarghese y,

came for their first day. Accompanying them was Father y Thottam.

Inside, the joyous newcomers were greeted with excitement by the

students, with both sides mostly unaware of what the fuss was about.

However, outside, there were no such illusions, with a section of the

crowd heard murmuring against the decision to admit the HIV-affected

children. Kollam district AIDS nodal officer Dr Narayanan Nair and a

team had arrived at the school well in advance to ensure a smooth

entry for the children. ``We will continue to visit the school as we

are entrusted with the task of removing misconceptions, if any, of

the parents of other children about HIV transmission,'' a team member

said.

Tears rolling down his cheeks, 62-year-old y told UNI he had not

been able to secure admission for the children in any school since

they were rejected by their last one, St English Medium School

at Achallur, on October 20. He had almost given up hope till the

Kollam-based AIDS aid centre led by Fr Thottam came to their help. On

February 13, y along with Bency and Benson sat on a fast before

the state secretariat. That worked, with Chief Minister A.K. Antony

immediately intervening and issuing a directive the same day that the

children be admitted to the nearest government school. Acting

quickly, Kollam District Collector Rajan Khobragade, the Education

Department and the AIDS Control Society secured admission for the

children at Kaithakuzy Government School, which has 160 students on

its rolls.

Dr M. Prasanna Kumar, Assistant Project Director at the AIDS Control

Society at Thiruvananthapuram, felt Bency and Benson were more

unfortunate than others as at least 300 children with HIV infection

get admitted to schools every year in the state without anybody

knowing it.

Orphaned by the death of their father K.C. Chandy in 1997 and mother

y in 2000, the children have been brought up by y on his

meagre pension from the Defence Department. ``The war that I had to

wage for their admission was at least ten times tougher than the one

I fought in the Kargil sector during the 1971 Indo-Pak war,'' he

says. y had been spending Rs 160 a day on medicines for both of

them till last month, when he ran out of money. With their tragedy

now public, some people have offered to buy medicines and help them

with their studies. (UNI)

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=18713