The boycott of two HIV+ children in Kollam district has brought into sharp focus the ignorance that pervades even a seemingly literate state like Kerala about the disease.
Among other things, some people spread canards that other children would contract AIDS by just looking at siblings Bency (7) and her brother Benson (5).
The kids were born to K C Chandy and Mary, who had contracted the HIV virus during blood transfusions in a local hospital. The parents died two years ago, leaving Bency and Benson under the care of their grandfather Geevargheese Johnny.
Tests revealed the children were also stricken with the HIV virus and failed to get admission in any school.
The lower primary school at Kaithakuzhi admitted the children, but later expelled them citing their HIV+ status.
After having exhausted all avenues, Johnny and the children sat on a dharna outside the state secretariat in capital Thiruvananthapuram. On coming to know of their plight, Chief Minister A K Antony ordered the Kaithakuzhi school to re-admit Bency and Benson.
The school obeyed the order, but noticed a drop in attendance by other kids as many parents refused to send their wards until the HIV-stricken children continued to be on the rolls.
Local legislator Prathapa Varma Thampan is one of the vocal supporters of the parents, who threatened to close down the school in case Bency and Benson continued to study there. He criticised human rights activists for 'unnecessarily taking up' this issue.
"We are not against education for HIV+ children. But we have to ensure that the disease does not create fear in the minds of other children," Thampan told rediff.com.
Health officials and activists say the shocking tale of Bency and Benson exemplifies the absurd levels of ignorance about HIV and AIDS in a literate state like Kerala.
"There has been a public campaign in the school and the village that the HIV+ children are a health risk. People spread rumours that other children would contract AIDS even by looking at Bency and Benson," revealed Dr Prasanna Kumar, assistant director of the Kerala AIDS Control Society.
Officials like Kumar have been on a damage control exercise trying to educate teachers and students of the Kaithakuzhi school about AIDS.
"But the parents were unrelenting despite our best efforts. We then decided to provide education to the two children at their home because the school was under threat of closure," Kumar pointed out.
"The state government plans to appoint regular teachers at the home of these kids as we do not want them to suffer," Kerala's Education Minister Nalakath Soopy told rediff.com.
The incident has sparked a debate on the right of HIV+ and AIDS-affected kids to attend regular schools.
Father Johnny Thottam, a Catholic priest who first took up the siblings' case with the government, finds the 'inhuman levels of stigma about AIDS in Kerala atrocious'.
"It is really sad that a progressive state like Kerala is meting out this kind of inhuman treatment to two innocent, bright children," he said.
