Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - June 6, 2003
Anjira Assavanonda
As respected people in the community, teachers could help allay public fears.
"If teachers show no fear by allowing their children to join classes with HIV-positive children, this would assure parents that the virus is not easily transmitted," the minister told a workshop on the rights of children with HIV, held by the Centre for Aids Rights (CAR).
Children with HIV have been excluded from schools despite government policy guaranteeing their rights.
The Education Ministry says almost three quarters of the 22,852 children with HIV/Aids, or about 17,367, are in school.
The rest, who are left out of the system, face discrimination stemming from the community's fear that they could spread the virus to others.
Sombat Tanprasertsuk, director of the Aids, Tuberculosis, and Sexual-Transmitted Diseases Clinic, said the chance of HIV-positive children spreading the virus to their school peers is remote, and there were no medical and scientific grounds to bar them from the education system.
The virus could be contracted through blood, sex, and mother-to-child transmission, but not everyone contracting the virus would become infected.
"The problem we're facing is about human feelings and emotion. If we use reason, we'll realise that our fears are not based on fact," said Dr Sombat.
Sunai Setboonsarng, adviser to Deputy Education minister Sirikorn Maneerin, said the ministry had told state schools not to reject or discriminate against children with HIV.
"The major problem doesn't come from schools or the ministry. It stems from local communities which do not understand the disease and put pressure on the schools," said Mr Sunai.
But he rejected Mr Anurak's idea of having teachers' children join the same school as HIV-infected children, saying this might violate teachers' rights.
Jiranuch Premchaiporn, of Access Aids Foundation, said public attitudes were a big problem in fighting HIV/Aids.
"The community's fear stems from a perception that HIV-positive children were born to die. But in fact there are many who survive. Some can live longer than 12-13 years," she said.
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