The Gujarat government is planning to open two children’s homes — one in Gandhinagar and the other in Surat — exclusively for HIV positive kids.
The Gujarat government is planning to open two children’s homes — one in Gandhinagar and the other in Surat — exclusively for HIV positive kids who have lost one or both their parents because of AIDS. The two homes will be the first children’s homes in the state meant for HIV-infected kids.
Giving this information, FP Halani, director, social security department, said the two homes would provide HIV-infected children a safe place to live where they would receive love and care.
“The aim is to make HIV-positive children physically and emotionally strong so that they can face the challenges of life,” Halani said. “The homes will have a capacity of 50
children each.”
Halani further said that children would be admitted to the two homes through the child welfare committee, as per the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act. “Besides providing the children a place to live, the homes will also provide them facilities for educational and vocational training,” he said.
Under the ‘Program for Juvenile Justice’ scheme, the state government has allocated Rs32,21,100 to start the two homes, but this is just 50% of the needed amount. The Centre will contribute 40% of the total amount required while the participating NGO will contribute the rest 10%.
Halani further said that, as per the scheme for orphaned children, the state government will also provide scholarship to 1,828 HIV-infected children this year. “From Std 1 to Std 5, each child will be given Rs50 per month as scholarship. From Std 6 to Std 10, he will get Rs10 per month (for 10 moths) and after Std 10 he will get the scholarship meant for higher education of orphan children,” he said. “In addition, Rs1500 per child per year will be given for school uniforms and educational aides.’’
Laxman Meena, who is the vice-president of Gujarat State Network of People Living with HIV positive (GSNP+), said that, currently, around 7,000 children in the state are HIV positive. “Surat alone has 750 such children,” he said. “Considering the large number of HIV-infected kids in the state, we definitely need such children’s homes. But we should not forget that these children are the responsibility of the whole society and not only of the state government or NGOs.’’
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