Punjab: School strikes off HIV+ student's name from rolls

Punjab: School strikes off HIV+ student's name from rolls
Dharmendra Rataul. Monday, July 30, 2007
http://www.indianex press.com/ story/207582. html

JULY 29: Seven-year-old Sarbjit Kaur is oblivious to the fact that she is HIV positive. The class II student is unaware what the future has in store for her, especially after the local Government high school struck off her name from the rolls. The school-leaving certificate, however, cites no reasons.Sarbjit's parents died of AIDS three years ago. She is being brought up by her aunt Kaushalya, who has three children of her own. "One day, her schoolteacher summoned me and inquired if Sarbjit was HIV positive. I said she was. The teacher then said that Sarbjit has a wound near her eye, which has shown no signs of healing. The other children in school might get infected and so Sarbjit should not be sent to school. What could I do, I stopped sending her and they sent home her school-leaving certificate, " said Kaushalya. Sarbjit is a good student, said her cousin Kulwinder Kaur, also in the same school. "Everyone in the school feared her. They knew that her parents had died due to AIDS and she is carrying the virus. There was panic when she got that cut on her face," she said. She told her classmates and teachers that the virus does not spread by shaking hands with or sitting beside the infected person, but no one paid any heed. Her aunt said that she never discriminated Sarbjit from her children. "I have two daughters and a son and they sleep together, play together and eat together. I am not worried. I do not know why the school is over anxious to throw her out," she said. When asked if she had filed any complaint, she said she was illiterate and did not know whom to lodge a complaint with. "We are helpless," she added. "I am studying at home now. My cousins teach me and I am learning ABC," Sarbjit said. The school-leaving certificate, dated July 3, 2007 (a copy available with The Indian Express), bears signatures of the school headmistress Sawinder Kaur. The principal said everyone in school was aware that the girl child was infected with HIV, but it was her injury that was causing panic. She, however, added that they struck off her name following a request from her guardians. The school authorities were not happy that she was not attending classes and wanted to help her, but the child's aunt was not willing to send her to school, the principal said. When asked if Sarbjit's guardians had given any written request to strike off her name, she said she would have to check the records.