Indian parents: Throw those HIV-positive children out of school!

[Bluebear]

Oh my, this sounds like Florida, 1987. (The Ray children.)

I think we need to outsource some HIV education to India.

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BARUIPUR, INDIA: Parents have demanded that a Baruipur primary school throw out children suspected to be HIV- positive. The West Bengal Board of Primary Education has, however, stood its ground and refused to give in to the demand. The incident is a virtual repeat of an episode in a remote Kerala village, where HIV-positive children were ostracised by parents and their wards last year.

The vicious whisper campaign against the children was started about a fortnight ago by a local goon at Gobindapur village, 25 km from Kolkata. He incited some villagers into demanding the ouster of the students. These ‘HIV-positive’ students are residents of a home run by an NGO.

Things came to a head about a week ago, when some parents submitted a signed memorandum to the school authorities, demanding that the HIV-positive children be removed. "We cannot allow our wards to study with HIV-positive kids. They are a threat and will infect our children. The school must throw them out, failing which we will withdraw our children," the letter to the headmaster stated.

One of the signatories to the memorandum, Sikha Ghosh, acknowledged she had no idea what HIV-positive or AIDS meant — except that it was a dreaded disease that everyone should guard against. "I was told that my child would contract the disease if she came in contact with the affected children," she said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata/Throw_out_HIV_kids_Parents/articleshow/2311049.cms

[aquart]

1. "Our wards"? Not "our children"?

Does it mean something else in Indian English?

[Bluebear]

2. I think in British that would be someone over whom you are considered a guardian