School cancels enrollment of child with HIV+ father

On World AIDS day, Dec. 1, a child whose father has HIV was forced to give up her dream of enrolling in an elementary school in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, next year because the school canceled her seat after learning of her father’s status.

Fajar Jasmin, the HIV-positive father and an environmental activist, said on Thursday that he had received a text message from an SD Don Bosco I elementary school board member saying that the school and the foundation had agreed to cancel his daughter’s seat in the school.

“With a heavy heart, we have to cancel our decision to accept Imi as an SD Don Bosco student because other parents objected to Imi’s presence,” the message says, referring to Fajar's daughter.

“My daughter has been formally accepted to enroll in the school next year. When discussing the tuition, I told them I was HIV positive because I hoped that the school would be ready to treat my daughter fairly if they found out my situation,” Fajar told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the school later asked him to meet with the foundation’s management.

“My wife later said that we did not have to pay for tuition. The school management asked us to give them my daughter’s HIV tests result instead,” he said.

Fajar said that he refused to comply with the requirement, arguing that it was discriminatory, as the school had only asked his daughter to submit the results.

“My wife refused to submit a test result. The foundation said that without the result, my daughter could possibly not enroll in the school,” he said.

The 1994 National Strategy to Tackle HIV/AIDS in Indonesia stipulates that an HIV/AIDS test should be taken voluntarily and that the test results are confidential.

Fajar is planning to take legal action on the matter.

“I'm suing them. I'm not doing this for me. Any possible compensation will be donated to other people with HIV,” he said.

As of Thursday afternoon, SD Don Bosco I management could not be reached for comment. (swd)