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If we are to believe these officials from the Commission on Higher Education, allowing students living with HIV/AIDS to enroll in our schools and universities would help spread the virus among students.

Last Wednesday, I was in the Technical Working Group of the Committee on Higher Education of the House of Representatives, where several bills strengthening the rights of students were being tackled. Akbayan’s version of the bill, which we call the Students’ Rights and Welfare (STRAW) Bill, has this provision:

“Section 5. Admission and non-discrimination. – No student shall be denied admission, expelled from an educational institution, punished with disciplinary action, including mandatory counseling, or denied welfare services, scholarships and other privileges on the basis of his/her physical handicap, socio-economic status, political and religious beliefs, sexual orientation, gender identity, or membership in student organizations. Pregnant students, certified reformed drug abusers, and students with HIV/AIDS shall not be discriminated against.”

Somehow, the line on sexual orientation, gender identity, membership in student organizations, as well as the non-discrimination clause for students with HIV/AIDS, got omitted when the committee consolidated the bills to formulate the substitute bill. We therefore moved to have the original text restored during the Technical Working Group.

Surprisingly, the re-inclusion of the non-discrimination clause for students with HIV/AIDS was opposed by officials from CHED, specifically by Atty. Carmelita Yadao-Sison of the Legal Service Unit and Dr. Catherine Castañeda of the Office of Student Services. They said that the specific mention of HIV/AIDS as a ground for discrimination is short-sighted since other infectious diseases might emerge in the future. While they have nothing against the right to education of those with HIV/AIDS, they fear that allowing them into our schools and universities would only help spread the virus among students and among young Filipinos. They added that a possible compromise is to limit the non-discrimination clause only to those who have already been “certified cured” of HIV/AIDS.

If these officials have already discovered a cure for HIV/AIDS, then they should share it to the rest of the world. They should even be given numerous citation and awards – a Nobel, even – for their achievement.

As it is, however, they deserve nothing but a strong rebuke. As if their ignorance was not disturbing enough, their zealousness and obstinacy betrayed a deep sense of prejudice that must be challenged. After all, they represent an institution that has the mandate to promote education. If they keep on putting in garbage like that into the heads of students and teachers, then they effectively transform the education system – already disappointing as it is – into an instrument of intolerance and ignorance.

One saving grace during the TWG was the quick retort from the students themselves. The Chair of the University of the Philippines Student Council, Third Bagro, immediately stressed the importance of the non-discrimination clause to address stigma against students with HIV/AIDS and corrected the CHED officials’ assumption that HIV/AIDS can be cured.

Promoting ignorance and fear, and not the protection of the rights of students and people with HIV/AIDS, is the best way to spread the virus. If the officials from CHED had any sense of shame, they should have immediately stuck their heads up their asses and apologized. But they probably even went home with their prejudice undiminished. But if it is any consolation, the reaction from the students tells us that it is not yet too late to stop our education officials from inflicting more harm, but we better start acting now.

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