Activists seek justice for HIV+ school kids

[Guest guest]

21 Aug 2009 HYDERABAD: Civil society organizations made a strong pitch on

Thursday for ending discrimination against HIV-positive children in schools by

organising a roundtable.

Lending celebrity support to the cause was former actress and TV host Amala

Akkineni. Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, M Venkatrangaiah

Foundation, Freedom Foundation, Centre for Advocacy and Research were the other

organisations that participated.

Addressing a press conference after the roundtable Amala said that schools

should not discriminate against HIV-positive children. " Unfortunately, we are

too immersed in our stigma.

The fear of parents is quite real and as a parent the best education that I've

given my son is to teach him not to discriminate against HIV-positive people, "

she said. Amala said that an HIV-positive individual should have the right to

choose whether to disclose his or her status. " We should be prepared to deal

with HIV and know what precautions to take, " she said.

Andhra Pradesh has the largest number of HIV/AIDS cases in India.

Nearly 21 per cent of the 2.3 million positive cases in India are in AP.

About 50,000 kids in Andhra Pradesh are HIV-positive, according to APSACS

director, R V Chandravadan.

He said that 3,000 children in the State were receiving Anti Retroviral

treatment.

The aim of the roundtable was to get together stakeholders in order to formulate

a strategy to prevent discrimination against children with AIDS. The context was

the removal of 24 HIV-positive schoolchildren from a Bolarum school in July due

to pressure from parents. " We are asking the school to take the students back

and if they won't, then we will try and get them admitted to other schools, "

said Chandravadan. A pilot project is being implemented in Kurnool to provide

NIN approved nutritious food to HIV-positive children.

HIV-infected children's rights becomes important in the context of the recently

passed Education Bill passed by Parliament that mandates free and compulsory

education for children. However, if the rights of infected children are not

respected then the spirit of the Bill is violated.

Stressing this point, Kishore Kumar of the Freedom Foundation said that schools

should be sensitised by training the management and students about HIV/AIDS.

Anupama, one of the participants in the roundtable who is a pediatrician said

that there is no danger of HIV-positive children passing on the infection to

other children in school merely by mixing with them.

" The only danger is if a positive child cuts himself while playing and the blood

is handled by other kids. However, with proper training the school management

and children will be able to handle such situations, " she said

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