By IANS
Thiruvananthapuram : The Kerala government will conduct a door-to-door campaign to spread awareness and garner support for the five HIV positive children who were not allowed to attend school in Kottayam district after protests from parents of other kids, the state health minister said Wednesday.
The daylong campaign in Pampadi will be carried out Sunday and would be led by Education Minister M.A Baby, leader of opposition Oomen Chandy and health minister P.K. Sreemathi.
This decision was taken at a meeting here attended by the three leaders.
"We will reach as many homes as possible that day in and around the school campus to tell people that there would be no harm if the five children studied there," Sreemathi said after the meeting.
The five children of M.D.L.P School, Pampadi, have been in the news ever since parents of the other children protested their presence and were disallowed from attending classes when the school reopened last month. Several parents threatened to withdraw their wards if the HIV affected children were allowed into the school.
The children are from Asha Kiran, an NGO formed under the Kottayam District Orphanage Association. It has now decided to send the children to school only after the government takes a decision on the matter.
"We are waiting for the government to act and till then we won't send the five children to school," said Father Yohanan Ramban of Asha Kiran.
Trouble erupted in December last year when the school management, under pressure from the parent teacher association (PTA), removed the five children. The school re-admitted the children under instructions from the Kerala government.
The Orthodox Church, which runs the school, and Asha Kiran had appointed a five-member PTA committee to decide on the matter.
Of the five children, a boy studies in kindergarten, two girls are in Class 2 and two other girls in Class 4.
Baby had earlier said that the state government would ensure that the five children continued to study in the school even if all the other children were withdrawn.
And the health minister reiterated the government stand. "Whatever happens the government is adamant that the five children will study in the same school and we are confident the daylong campaign will yield results," said Sreemathi.
Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, who already appears in HIV/AIDS awareness advertisements, stressed that he would extend all possible help in the matter.
"It is sad that such discrimination takes place in Kerala. I will do my best in whatever manner I can," the actor told IANS.
Following a public interest litigation filed by an NGO, the Kerala High Court has already issued notices to the administration and the PTA to present their views.
Both the state and national Human Rights Commission have also issued notices to the school on this issue.