Medical students participate in an AIDS awareness program organized on World AIDS Day Dec. 1, 2016 in Kolkata. (ucanews.com photo)
Activists and church officials have applauded the Indian Supreme Court's decision to provide free and compulsory education to children living with HIV.
The March 31 directive asked state governments to issue notifications to categorize children living with or affected by HIV as a "disadvantaged group" making them eligible for free and compulsory education up to the age of 14.
The court gave states four weeks to issue notifications to that effect and said those failing to do so would have to explain their reasons, said the bench headed by Chief Justice J. S. Khehar on March 31.
This will help children living with HIV integrate in society and start to educate people about the disease, breaking down fear and prejudice, said Father Father Mathew Perumpil, secretary of the Indian bishops' office for health care.
The change came after NAZ Foundation, a non-governmental agency, filed a petition with the court. The foundation argued that children living with or affected by HIV are discriminated against and are compelled to leave schools, adversely affecting their personality and growth.
"The tragedy is the social taboo associated with the disease that forces them to hide their status or face scornful discrimination," NAZ Foundation official James Valiath told ucanews.com.
Despite decades of national campaigns, people do not freely mingle with people living with HIV for fear of catching the virus. There are umpteen cases of parents withdrawing their children from schools en masse when they hear children with HIV may be admitted, Valiath said.
The Supreme Court used a piece of legislation called the Right to Education. This law requires all private schools to reserve 25 percent of places to children from disadvantaged groups and the state will subsidize their fees. Children living with HIV will now be admitted to schools under this provision.
Pradeep Arora from the church-run Deepti Foundation said that court order would make lot of difference. "It is difficult to even come and say that one is HIV-positive. Giving such children an education and sending them to children was beyond our hopes," said Arora.
"Remember, the court directive stresses that people living with HIV are also human and they also have rights," Pradeep said.
According to the National AIDS Control Organisation, the total number of people living with HIV India is estimated at 2.1 million in 2015.