A group of HIV-positive children trying to attend school have faced a fresh setback with parents of their classmates pulling their kids out of class.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A group of HIV-positive children trying to attend school in Kerela have faced a fresh setback with parents of their classmates pulling their kids out of class, officials said on Monday.
The move was the latest twist in a six-month battle that has highlighted the stigma suffered in the country by those living with HIV and AIDS -- in this case one boy and four girls aged between five and 11.
The children appeared to have won a victory last week when the Christian school that threw them out six months ago allowed them to return to class -- but it was short-lived.
"Among the 65 students on our rolls, only three children came to school on June 21 and the next day none turned up," principal Elsamma Mani said.
"Today also the school remained closed as no students turned up to attend class."
Officials have assured parents that HIV is not transferred by sitting next to or touching an infected person, but suspicion remains.
"I will not let my children attend classes with the HIV-positive children, come what may," an irate mother who had pulled her kids from the school told a news channel on Monday.
Another father questioned why the shelter that houses the kids had not admitted them into its own school if there was no risk of transmission.
The school's parent-teacher association has said it will not send children to class in protest against state government pressure over the affair, which has seen the establishment threatened with the loss of its permit to operate.
The kids were first "outed" when a local paper published photographs of them attending an event on world AIDS day in December.
Three of the five children are infected with HIV but all were living in a shelter for infected mothers.
Officials in Kerala said they would continue to work to make sure the children were accepted.
"I hope that the villagers will realise their mistake and accept the children," said Kerala education minister M.A. Baby.
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