Kerala HIV+ve School Children ouster issue

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

It has been a humiliating turnaround that had happened in the Pamppady issue

were five innocent children were denied of the their basic right of education on

account of some irrational misconceptions held by a group of narrow minded

persons who claims themselves to be the symbols of parenthood. This is not the

first time an issue of this sort is happening in Kerala.

Earlier the ouster of two positive children Akshara and Ananthu had invoked much

hype that gradually faded from the public memory after initial hiccups.

Nevertheless, the good part of it is that the children are still studying in the

same school along with their un-infected counterparts, thanks to the humane

attitude and the exemplary broadness exhibited by the teachers, parents and the

authorities of Kannur School.

However, the destiny of the five destitute children, who are innocent victims of

the epidemic, is still at doll drums owing to an adamant stand taken by a caucus

of parents who possessed neither basic information on HIV/AIDS nor an open mind

to accept and understand things as it is. It is rather unfortunate that the

bullheaded attitude of these parents have put the school authorities in a

catch-22 situation in the context of the Kerala government threat to derecognize

the school on denial of admission to these children.

Although the governmental pressure yield result with the school authorities

taking back the children, the manner in which these children are treated there

is truly regrettable. They were been ostracized with in the school and the

teachers and authorities took no efforts to evade the situation.

It is obvious that the incident would have caused serious repercussions to minds

of these tenderly aged children. Under these circumstances, the Asha Kiran

authorities were compelled to retrieve the children from the school until a

consensus is reached in the issue.

Moreover, just think about the impact of the ouster on other children studying

in the school. What kind of attitude would these prospective citizens develop

towards their infected brothers and sisters?

Incidents like this would certainly stand in way of our global fight towards the

eradication of stigma and discrimination towards PLHIV.

The KSACS authorities should take active efforts to resolve the issue at the

first instance rather than shy away from their responsibility by quoting a

newspaper saying that Asha kiran is not sending the children to school based on

deceptive report submitted by the health department team.

The media should also focus on positive reporting while dealing with sensitive

issues like this rather than considering it as a scoop.

They should focus more on resolving the issue instead of aggravating it by

spreading public awareness on the topic and by eliciting sensible public opinion

on the topic.

The issue, undoubtedly is a serious one with wider implications and needs to be

addressed with due consideration. It certainly calls for a combined effort from

the government, media, and activists with the active support of civil society to

resolve the issue.

This is high time for a highly literate state like Kerala to exhibit sensible

response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to have paradigm shift in the attitude

shown towards the PLHIV community.

ph Mathew

General Secretary

Council of People living with HIV/AIDS in Kerala ( CPK+)

pactkerala@...

nellickan@...