Najah Primary School in Garissa County has been ordered by court to pay a mother KSh650,000 for stigmatizing and discriminating against her 12-year-old son, who is living with HIV/AIDS.

The HIV and AIDS Tribunal found the school’s decision to expel the Grade Two pupil because of his HIV status to be unfair.

The boy was secretly taking Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) with help from his older brother at the school. Once the school found out about his HIV status, they expelled him and supposedly gave his mother KSh10,000 to have him leave the school.

The mother stated that the school only provided KSh600, and her son stopped going to school due to the discrimination causing him depression.

The school and it is administrator, Mohamed Noor, did not respond to the case despite being sued.

The tribunal, led by Carolyne Mboku, concluded that the school’s behavior was unfair and unlawful, amounting to discrimination against the child, which goes against Section 32 of Act.

She was awarded (the tribunal) KSh400,000 for discrimination and an extra KSh250,000 for the suffering caused by the school.

The tribunal mentioned that people with HIV who experience stigma may hesitate to seek care, and discrimination in healthcare settings can push them away, making it harder to offer HIV testing, treatment, and prevention services.

The netizens reacted in different ways towards the ruling, where some said “they should be an example…It’s an innocent kid that wants education but instead they stigmatize.”

“What does someone’s health problems have to do with the staff, waifunge tu ju hiyo ni ujinga,” while another citizen said, “minimum should have been a million and all school admin staff fired.”