Foreign students getting admitted in the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in the current session would have to go through HIV test. MANIT is the first educational institute in the State asking for HIV report from the foreign students.
MANIT Director Appu Kuttan KK has issued an order for the foreign students seeking admission in the college to submit HIV report along with mark sheets, allotment letter, identity proof and SAT score card. Ironically no such order has been issued for Indian students seeking admission.
Direct Admission of Abroad Students (DASA) provides admission to students of foreign nationality and Non Residential Indians (NRIs) direct admission in National Institutes of Technology (NITs), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and International Institute of Information Technology (IIITs) to courses like BTech, BArch and BPlanning. DASA only decide the documents to be presented by students during the admission process in all the institutes countrywide and according to its guidelines no HIV report has to be submitted.
Though DASA has not ordered institutions under it to demand HIV report but MANIT administration took the decision on its own. MANIT administration has issued the order as a precautionary action.
Foreign and NRI students have been asked to bring HIV report with them and those who will not bring the report; they would have to get themselves tested in hospitals of State capital.
Kuttan KK said that in year 2009, a foreign student studying in institution died of AIDS, so this order is a precautionary measure for HIV positive students. Special attention and medical care will be provided to such students by the institution.