Love Dale Central School, a well-regarded private school in Belgaum, has been in the news for having ‘expelled’ an eight-year-old student whose parents are HIV-positive.
Love Dale Central School, a well-regarded private school in Belgaum, has been in the news for having ‘expelled’ an eight-year-old student whose parents are HIV-positive. The community of HIV-positive people in the state has rushed to rally for the cause of the boy. The school, however, has contended that the child’s fees had not been paid; school authorities want the full fees to be paid before the child continues his education there.
Love Dale Central School is among the well-known private schools in Belgaum; it charges students who are day scholars a fee of Rs15,000 per year; resident students are expected to pay Rs65,000 per year as fees. Principal of the school, Panchasheela Kadri, said, “The parents are lying. They took their child out of the school and withdrew him from the hostel. We were giving him a free education.” The school is currently on summer vacation.
On behalf of the Karnataka Network of People Living with HIV (KNP+), justice Veeranna Thigadi, member secretary, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, has sent a letter to Nadadur RG, principal secretary to the government of Karnataka, department of primary and secondary education, urging the government to intervene.
“We want the state government to step in,” said Saroja Puthran, president of KNP+, herself HIV-positive. “This is a case of discrimination. The child’s parents are HIV-positive; the child is being denied his right to education,” Saroja said.
Parents of the child, Sunil and Nagarathna Ramagowda, say that the child had been enjoying a free education. They fear that their child has been expelled after other parents complained of their HIV-positive status. “We are poor, we cannot afford the fees,” said Sunil, currently unemployed, although he volunteers as an activist for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. Sharada Gopal, an activist engaged in ensuring the right to education in North Karnataka said, “The school cannot expel a child just because his parents are HIV-positive.”
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