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[NEW DELHI, 23 December 2010] - After losing their parents to HIV, eight children are now on the verge of losing their right to education. The children, aged between three and 12 years, were denied admission to a prominent school in Gurgaon last year on 'medical grounds' and even the government school they have been shifted to is threatening to remove them as they are HIV positive. The NGO looking after them has alleged that the kids are treated poorly at their school and are mocked by fellow children. "The students call us 'bimari'. Even the teachers do not help. They often scold us and make us work," said 12-year-old Amit (name changed), who studies in Class VI at Rajkiya Vidyalaya in Bhondsi, Haryana. Another 11-year-old child, who has no memories of his parents or where he was born, says teachers discriminate against him. "They make us clean the classroom, do gardening work and often scold us. They ask us why we keep taking medicines and beat us up if we protest," he alleged, adding that he has no illness and is healthy like any other child. According to Sunita Gupta, chairperson of NGO Drone Foundation which looks after these children, the teacher in-charge of the government-run school has warned of action if a medical certificate is not produced at the earliest. "The children feel scared to go to school. I met the principal some days ago and he threatened disciplinary action as the school was not informed about the fact that these children were HIV positive. They are being harassed," she claimed. Gupta added that the children, who were orphaned, were first registered under the education programme for underprivileged children run by DPS Maruti Kunj in March 2009. "Though the school administration was supportive in the beginning, due to pressure from parents of other children and teachers, they asked us to make alternate arrangement for their education in August. One academic year was lost as all other schools had closed admissions by then," she said. When contacted, principal of DPS Maruti Kunj Rachna Pandit said that the children were never admitted to the school. "Such children need special care. We talked to doctors and experts about their emergency needs and care, and finally decided to drop them as we do not have expertise in dealing with such cases. There have been instances when these children got hurt while playing and the bleeding did not stop," said Pandit. On the allegations of discrimination at the government school, Gurgaon's district education officer Jyoti Choudhary said she was not aware of this case. "Under the Right to Education Act, no children can be discriminated against," she said. Dr Bir Singh, professor of the community medicine department at AIIMS who has worked with Unicef, said that HIV positive children do not require any special care in schools. "They are healthy and need regular medication, including vitamins and tablets, to prevent opportunistic infections," he said. The NGO looking after them has alleged that the kids are treated very badly at the government school they are studying in and are mocked by others. Further Information: CRIN's website on children and discrimination Guide to non-discrimination and the CRC Education, training and awareness raising on children and discrimination