Goa school shuts down over HIV-positive students

Panaji: A deadlock between a school’s parent-teacher association (PTA) and management over the enrolment of 13 HIV-positive children has forced school authorities to temporarily close down the institution.

Following the closure, the Green Goa Foundation, a local NGO, issued a notice to state education director Anil Powar asking him to ensure that the HIV-positive students were not denied their right to an education.

An official from the Fatima High School in Rivona, a mining town located 50km from here, said that the school was temporarily shut down in view of the deadlock between the institution’s management and the PTA.

“The parents have been demanding that the students be removed from the school, which is clearly not only unreasonable but also not legal... the school has been shut until the matter is resolved,” the official said requesting anonymity.

The parent-teacher association of the Fatima High School threatened a boycott if the institution’s management admits the 13 HIV-positive students.

The stand-off even forced the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights to on Monday direct both Goa Police and the South Goa district administration to ensure that the students were not denied of their rights.

The 13 students belong to a children’s home called Nitya Seva Niketan located in the Quepem sub-district and were enrolled in an open school before the nuns — who run the home — decided to admit them to a regular school this year.

Attempts made in June to admit the students to the Don Bosco-run school in Sulcorna village, located 50km from here, failed due to opposition from parents of students at the school.

Raison Almeida of the Green Goa Foundation claimed that non-admission of the students was a clear violation of their right to education.

“I have issued a notice to the education director to uphold the right of the students to education,” Almeida said.

In his notice, Almeida said he would be forced to petition the Bombay High Court bench in Goa if the education department doesn’t ensure admissions to the HIV-positive students.