BEIJING: Chinese schools have expelled students who tested positive for hepatitis-B, sparking outrage from central government authorities, the China Daily said on Wednesday.
The 19 students were banned from attending middle schools in the city of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, under guidelines issued by the city government, the paper said.
"I am in a desperate situation now. No school is willing to accept me with a drop-out paper in my hand," one expelled student, a 13-year-old boy named Xiaxiao, was quoted as saying.
Hepatitis-B affects more the 120 million Chinese and is considered a major threat to public health, according to the Ministry of Health in Beijing.
The school reportedly expelled the children because of fears they could spread the virus, even though it is mainly transmitted only through sexual contact and blood.
"We made the decision when considering a safe environment for our other 900-plus students," an official from one of the schools told the paper.
However the China Daily quoted an official at the health ministry as saying that the government opposed any discrimination against hepatitis-B carriers, while lawyers said the schools were breaking the law.
"What the schools have done is not legal. Even if the students are Hepatitis-B virus carriers, they still have the right to a normal school life," a Chinese lawyer, Zhang Yuanxin, told the official newspaper.
