“Due to prevalent stigma towards HIV, and certain notions of parents of non-positive children, school administrations hesitate to admit positive children,” Apsara Karki, teacher of Punarbal Shiksha Sadan, said. [break]
Punarbal Shiksha Sadan has been providing education to positive children apart from orphans.
According to Rajiv Kaphle, director of National Association of People living with HIV/ AIDS (NAPN), more than one hundred positive children are enrolled in different schools of Kathmandu, hiding their HIV status.
“Not only less-known schools, even renowned schools deny admission to positive children,” Kaphle said.
According to him, the renowned schools of Kathmandu offer him some donation but are not ready to take students.
“It is understandable that small schools discriminate, but schools like Subhatara, St. Xavier´s, St. Mary´s, Little Angels, GEMs and other expensive schools denied admission,” he said. The NAPN had asked the school to admit the children by sending them formal letters.
Karki said school operators still thing admitting positive children is a huge risk as if parents of normal children know that their beloved children are in the same class with positive children, they will take the children to the other schools.
Public schools are nontheless hard on children living with HIV in giving them an easy access, but of late, they are accepting them. In such schools, school administration knows the HIV status of such kids but keep it a secret, Kaphle said.
Punarbal Plus runs the Punarbal Shiksha Sadan targeting positive children.
There are fifty-six children studying in Punarbal Shiksha Sadan. The school gets the assistance from the Austrilan Federation of Aids Organization (AFAO).
Twenty-six are kept in its hostel, while ten of them are taking antiretroviral drugs regularly.
Related story
Teachers start enrolling their children in community schools
