A southern Italian care home has asked health minister Stefania Giannini to intervene after an 11-year-old disabled girl with AIDS was refused a place at a local school, Catholic daily Avvenire reported on Thursday.
The state school in Capodarco, in the Campania region had earlier accepted the girl but upon learning she had AIDS said it did not have a place for her, Avvenire said.
The paper quoted a letter written to Giannini by staff members at the care home as saying the girl had "the right to go to school and to develop like any other child".
"This is a clear case of discrimination towards the child by the state school," the letter stated.