West Bengal school throws out son of AIDS patient

July 20, 2006

Indian school throws out son of AIDS patient

Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:05 AM GMT

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A six-year-old boy in eastern India was forced

to leave school on fears he was HIV positive after his father was

discovered to have been infected, newspapers reported on Wednesday.

The boy, Sourav Majhi, had his name struck off the rolls days after

he was admitted to the school in a village in West Bengal state's

Midnapore district, despite a health certificate proving he was not

infected.

" The secretary of the school came to our house ... he claimed that

he knew I was an AIDS patient and so would not allow Sourav to

continue in school, " the boy's father, Debashis Majhi, was quoted as

saying in the Indian Express.

" We showed them Sourav's health certificate which clearly states

that he does not have the disease. But the authorities remained

adamant, insisting that my boy is an AIDS patient and therefore

would not be allowed to attend school, " he said.

The newspaper said Majhi, who was diagnosed as HIV positive two

years ago and works for a government project on HIV/AIDS, has lodged

a complaint against the government-aided private school with the

ministry of health, the newspaper said.

UNAIDS, the United Nation's AIDS-prevention agency, recently said

India has the highest HIV cases in the world, with an estimated 5.7

million people living with the virus.

There have been reports in the past of HIV/AIDS victims being

ostracised by communities and of schools turning away infected

children in other parts of the country.

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