Image caption The boy had found himself attending an empty school after the rumours spread

The Sri Lankan government says it has found a new place for a boy who was excluded from school after other families shunned him over HIV rumours.

Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has told the BBC a private company will fund the six-year-old's education until he leaves school.

Donors will also provide the boy and his mother with a new home, he said.

Parents at the old school kept their children at home amid false rumours that the boy was infected.

As of last year, 3,200 adults and 100 children were living with HIV/Aids in Sri Lanka, a country of 21.2 million, according to government data.