A senior high school in North China's Hebei Province has refused admission to an 18-year-old girl suffering from HIV, reports said Tuesday.
Tingting's father, Wang Zhijun, told the Global Times that his daughter stays at home and still hopes to get accepted.
Tingting received an offer from the No 10 Middle School in Wuan, Hebei, in July.
However, when Tingting was about to pay the school's tuition on July 4, the school informed her they had no information about her in the school's registration system, which her father said was an excuse to reject her.
Tingting's friend, who was also admitted to the same school, told the school that Tingting is an HIV carrier and feared being infected for being in the same class or sharing a dormitory room with her, according to a teacher in charge of admissions.
The school said it was concerned about the reaction of other parents who might oppose Tingting's admission, said a school official on August 22. "[We] cannot take students with a 'special disease."
Previously, Tingting and her family first came under media spotlight after her father Wang sued a hospital in Hebei in 2000 after Tingting was diagnosed with HIV two years after her mother died of HIV. Her mother was contracted HIV through a blood transfusion while giving birth to Tingting, reported Shijiashuang-based Yanzhao Evening News in November 2012.
China has about 8,000 HIV carriers under the age of 14, and most of them suffer from discrimination when applying to schools, reported the Beijing Times in December 2014.
