Does literacy not come with common-sense as an add-on ?

Kerala is associated with many things - monsoons, greenery, beaches, hills,
highest liquor consumption in the country and last but not the least literacy.
It is supposed to be 100% literate, in the sense that almost all the population
can do some basic reading, writing and arithmetic.

The people are in general well-read and can be depended upon to carry a
conversation about basically anything under the sun. And they have their
own opinion and viewpoint too. Here, I am not referring to the educated
guys, with a school/college education. Even those that have not had a proper
schooling, are pretty much aware of what is happening and do not miss the
daily newspapers.

However, every now and then, some news item about Kerala crops up which
makes you wonder whether it would have been better to add some basic lessons
in common-sense along with the adult education classes. Infact, why limit it to
the newly literate ? Even the school/college educated crowd could do with a
strong dose of common-sense.

The immediate provocation for this post was what I saw on the Kairali channel.
It was a program about a girl (aged 10 or so) whose parents died of AIDS, and
had only an aged grandma as the sole surviving relative. The kid wants to go to
the nearby school, which you would agree is a pretty normal desire.

However, what was abnormal was the opposition from the public, especially from
the parents of the other kids studying at the school. They do not want her mingling
with their kids, just because she happens to be afflicted with AIDS. I was like, "How
stupid can people be that they discriminate against a kid that is in that state due to
no fault of hers ?". What use is your being educated or literate if you have such a
mentality towards a kid ?

It was heart-rending to watch the program. The grandma is really old and thus the
kid takes care of all the work at home and then rushes off to school, where she is
kind of segregated from the other kids. How much would it hurt her tiny heart to
be subjected to such behaviour ? The kid should be admired though for maintaining
a cheerful demeanour even in the face of such crappy behaviour from the people
around her. She was calmly talking to the media about the problem she was facing.

The good news is that after the intervention of some sensible people and NGOs, she
is able to attend school, though some kind of passive discrimination still exists.

Actually, this not something that would happen only in Kerala. It could be any
other state. But, it hurts more when it is Kerala, because the citizens are supposed
to be educated, well informed and in tune with stuff happening around the world.
We even had cases where professionals like doctors and nurses refused to treat
AIDS patients. If that's how aware the medical fraternity are, why blame laymen ?

I just hope that Indians in general and Malayalees specifically treat AIDS patients
without any discrimination and be aware that normal interaction with them does
not lead to them getting infected, as they believe.