HIV-carriers banned from classroom

People diagnosed HIV-positive are to be barred from becoming teachers in Guangdong Province, according to a draft regulation issued by the provincial education department on Sunday.

The draft stipulates that people who are HIV-positive, and those who have other infectious diseases like hepatitis and venereal diseases, cannot be certified as a teacher, which would contravene national laws that state employers can not discriminate against HIV/AIDS carriers, an activist told the Global Times Monday.　

Guangdong provincial education authorities, who could not be reached on Monday, said via their official website that public opinions are being solicited on the draft regulation until January 11.

The proposal has attracted online comments since it was first published on Sunday.

According to a poll on microblog site Sina Weibo held by China Central Television, until late Monday afternoon, nearly half of 323 respondents want the draft to be passed, saying they agree it would be dangerous for students to have long-term contact with teachers who carry the HIV virus.

Zhu Wanyu, a primary teacher in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, said Monday she thinks the proposal is reasonable. "In my school, teachers hand out lunch to the students. If a teacher is HIV-positive and his saliva accidentally gets on the lunch, would it be dangerous for the students?" she asked.

Despite being told that the virus cannot be passed through saliva, Zhu still insisted that she would be fearful of working with HIV carriers, and the students' parents would be more anxious than teachers.

"This reflects that the knowledge of HIV prevention is not well spread," noted Yu Fangqiang, chief coordinator of Beijing Yirenping Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting social justice and public health.

Yu said such a regulation discriminates against HIV carriers and is against the law.

The Regulation on AIDS Prevention and Control issued by the State Council in 2006 states that employers or individuals cannot discriminate against people living with HIV/AIDS and their relatives on their right to employment.

Even though their rights are protected by law, employers rarely grant these rights to those who test positive for HIV.

In 2010, a 27-year-old teacher was refused employment at a local school after he was tested positive for HIV during a mandatory medical examination before taking his post in Yanbian county, Sichuan province. He then sued the local education department for not employing him.

Yu's NGO helped the teacher to find a lawyer, but the court was in favor of the local education authority.　

"Altogether we have helped four HIV carriers to sue the educational departments over job discrimination. Three of them failed or were rejected by the local courts."

According to a 2009 survey of 2,000 HIV carriers by UNAIDS in China, 14.8 percent said they have been refused employment after their HIV-positive status become known to their employer.

Its estimated that at the end of 2011, a total of 780,000 people were living with HIV in China.