(Princess Diana with Children with HIV AIDS)
Sri Lanka is called the pearl of the Indian Ocean and the greatest country in the world filled with humanity and mankind but astonishing to think is it such a gullible country.
It is the pearl of the Indian Ocean which forfeited a school for a child whose father was supposedly died infected with HIV.
The child’s mother went in search of ten schools but none of the schools accepted the child implies that the principals of the school’s do not know anything about the HIV virus or how it is spread.
Meantime a certificate was given confirming that this child’s blood is not infected with HIV.
Finally in spite of his mother starting a fasting protest opposite the Kuliyapitiya education office the child was accepted to a school due to the involvement of the ministry.
Later a horrendous act not happened anywhere in the world was heard that is the parents of other children removing all their children’s from the same classroom where the child was entered.
This pitiless has happened in the so called greatest country of the world that is in Sri Lanka.
Isn’t there any one person on the village who could brief that HIV is only spread through blood transfusion, breast feeding, vaginal discharge, sperm and anal fluids transmitting to the blood stream but not through contacts and association? Isn’t there a loquacious person who had humanity to explain this?
Although Sri Lankan boast that they have a high literacy rate isn’t this evident that the general knowledge of the public is just above zero?
It was world famous Sri Lanka Cricketer Kumar Sangakkara who embraced a person infected with HIV at a program held by the UNAIDS in Sri Lanka to raise the awareness to the public about HIV.
Instead of giving publicity for such, the media in the country propagate fear because creating fear is a good market.
The media is also responsible for the lack of knowledge of the parents who removed their children from the school due to the fear of the child.
Millions of people who are infected with HIV live a usual life in the world. The world famous basketball player Arvin Magic Johnson while infected with HIV played and got many awards.
There are many incidents in the world as such.
However the rumors in Sri Lanka are much stronger than that because the media mainly reports the rumors.
PS: Although it’s been 38 years since Tamil language has made the official language of the country only 18% of the country’s population is aware about this fact (An analysis from the Centre for Policy Alternatives)
(Translated by Asgar for LankaNewsWeb)