Govt gives relief to HIV+ students in Karnataka

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Dear Forum Members:

Govt gives relief to HIV+ students in Karnataka

Bangalore: Coming to the rescue of over five lakh HIV-

infected patients and their children, the state

education department has ruled that no school in the

state shall discriminate against children affected by

Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV). In case of

violation, schools could lose affiliation or face

punitive action.

The order, issued by primary and secondary education

principal secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, will come into

effect from the current academic year and will be

applicable to all schools- government, aided or

unaided.

“There is no need for schools to know about the HIV

status of the child at the time of admission. There

should be no discrimination against children affected

by HIV or those whose parents are HIV-infected,” the

order says.

In order to ensure effective implementation of the

order, the department has instructed all deputy

directors of public instruction and block education

officers to see HIV- infected students are treated on

par with others. DDPIs and BEOs, will in turn, give

necessary directions to all school headmasters, about

the new order.

The governments’ action follows the story of an eight-

year- old girl who was denied admission by a Dakshin

Kannada school in August, which was widely reported by

media. This officials say, is also to prevent any

cases of bias against children affected by HIV as the

state is one of the hotbeds of AIDS. Karnataka has the

fourth highest number of AIDS cases in India.

The department has also taken up HIV/AIDS education at

government schools with assistance from the health

department. “Based on the information given by

Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society, we have

printed information about AIDS and HIV in the inside

cover pages of textbooks for Class 9 and 10,” DSERT

director Jagannath Rao said.

Source: Times of India on 7th October, 2005

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Regards

Anil

Email: pkanilkumar@...

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