NEW DELHI, Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) - A primary school in southern India has thrown out five HIV-positive children after the parents of other pupils threatened to remove them, a newspaper reported Friday.
The HIV positive status of the children, who are aged between four and 10, had been kept secret at the school at Pampady, in Kerala state, the Hindustan Times said.
But it made the local presss after they took part in a programme on World AIDS Day on December 1.
"The news spread like wildfire," said an official of the State Aids Control Society.
The four girls and one boy were on Wednesday ordered to leave the school and return to the orphanage which cares for them, the daily said.
Kerala Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy told the Hindustan Times: "I am going to Pampady today. We will begin a door-to-door campaign in Pampady to spread awareness" about AIDS.
India has the world's highest HIV caseload with 5.7 million people infected with the virus.
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