Dear Forum,

The reality that OVCs are a neglected group in the HIV response is widely
acknowledged. With no national guidelines on protecting and promoting the rights
of children affected by HIV and AIDS, news repors like the one below are going
to continue to shame all concerned citizens, particularly AIDS activists and
organisations working on child rights.
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AIDS fear keeps students away from Latur school
Wed, Jul 8 12:59 PM

Latur (Maha), Jul 8 (PTI) More than half of the students of a government school
here are not attending classes as their parents and guardians fear they may
contract HIV/AIDS as some children affected by the disease are also studying
there. The Zilla Parishad (ZP) school at Hasegaon village in this Central
Maharashtra district is flooded with requests by parents for transfer
certificate (TC).

According to local sources, an ashram, managed by NGO Ahmi Sevak, is being run
in the village where orphans, HIV positive and AIDS-affected children are
residing. Ten students from this ashram, Sewalaya, are studying in the ZP
school.

Since the last few days, there are rumours in the village that if anybody dines
or plays with the HIV/AIDS patients, he/she may also get affected. After these
rumours spread, parents of many children applied to the Headmaster for TC. When
contacted, Headmaster Dharmraj Sathe said, "We will give admission to as many
AIDS affected children as we can because we know AIDS does not spread by dining
or playing together.

"We are trying our best to clear the doubts and misconceptions about the disease
but the adamant wards and parents are in no mood to listen to us. The reason for
TC mentioned by the parents is not justified and as such I am not going to issue
TC on this ground," he said.
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