Indonesian school expels 14 pupils with HIV after parents of other students became worried virus would be ‘transmitted’ to their children
- Explanations from the school on how HIV is transmitted failed to convince the parents, who threatened to move their children to another school if the school did not expel them
A public junior school in Indonesia has expelled 14 HIV-positive pupils after worried parents of other students demanded their removal, the school’s headmaster said on Thursday.
Karwi, principal of the Purwotomo Public Elementary School in Solo, Central Java, said the pupils have not been allowed to attend the school since last week.
“The parents of other students are worried that the students would transmit the disease to their children,” said Karwi, who like many Indonesians, goes by one name.
Explanations from the school on how HIV is transmitted failed to convince the parents, who threatened to move their children to another school if the school did not expel them.
“We had no choice. We accepted the students because everyone has the right to education ... until this wave of protests started to come in,” he was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying.
The pupils had studied there since last month after their previous Bumi Public Elementary School was combined with the Purwotomo school.