<p>To raise public awareness about the increasing incidents of discrimination being meted out to the HIV-infected students in schools, experts from the US and India launched a nationwide initiative in New Delhi on Wednesday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Health advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) held a conference in the backdrop of a Madurai school case where a teacher discriminated against a 12-year-old student after discovering that he was HIV positive. <br /><br />Drawing parallels with a high-profile case in the US where administrators of prestigious Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania had denied admission to a 13-year-old student on similar grounds, the experts condemned the Madurai incident, terming it as discrimination stemming from ignorance and prejudice. <br /><br />Commenting on the Madurai case, Daisy David, advocacy officer of HIV/AIDS with World Vision, said the student was discriminated after the teacher found about his treatment details entered for the ID purpose.<br /><br />“This is not the first case. Recently, a group of students had to face similar humiliation at the hands of a school at Kancheepuram,” said Daisy, who has been living with HIV since 12 years.<br /><br />She said how she was kept out of the mainstream functions in the school where her own daughter is in class Xl. <br /><br />Terri Ford, senior director of global policy, US AHF, stressed the need to develop a strong support mechanism to ensure implementation of Right to Education with the help of new policies.<br /><br />He said, “We would like to empower the HIV positive community so that they can share their experiences with children and sensitise school authorities.” <br /><br />Dr Shibu Cheruvelil, AHF India Country Programme Manager called for a nationwide movement to raise awareness levels in the public as similar cases were being reported from different parts of India and other Asian countries. <br /></p>
<p>To raise public awareness about the increasing incidents of discrimination being meted out to the HIV-infected students in schools, experts from the US and India launched a nationwide initiative in New Delhi on Wednesday. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Health advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) held a conference in the backdrop of a Madurai school case where a teacher discriminated against a 12-year-old student after discovering that he was HIV positive. <br /><br />Drawing parallels with a high-profile case in the US where administrators of prestigious Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania had denied admission to a 13-year-old student on similar grounds, the experts condemned the Madurai incident, terming it as discrimination stemming from ignorance and prejudice. <br /><br />Commenting on the Madurai case, Daisy David, advocacy officer of HIV/AIDS with World Vision, said the student was discriminated after the teacher found about his treatment details entered for the ID purpose.<br /><br />“This is not the first case. Recently, a group of students had to face similar humiliation at the hands of a school at Kancheepuram,” said Daisy, who has been living with HIV since 12 years.<br /><br />She said how she was kept out of the mainstream functions in the school where her own daughter is in class Xl. <br /><br />Terri Ford, senior director of global policy, US AHF, stressed the need to develop a strong support mechanism to ensure implementation of Right to Education with the help of new policies.<br /><br />He said, “We would like to empower the HIV positive community so that they can share their experiences with children and sensitise school authorities.” <br /><br />Dr Shibu Cheruvelil, AHF India Country Programme Manager called for a nationwide movement to raise awareness levels in the public as similar cases were being reported from different parts of India and other Asian countries. <br /></p>
