Students & Suicides

Why do punishments in schools drive students to resort to such extreme steps? We probe deep…

- Sneha Sureshkumar

- Recently, the news of four high school girls committing suicide by jumping in their village well at Panapakkam in Tamil Nadu, because of the verbal abuse by their teachers, took the entire nation by shock.

- Another similar incident took place in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, where a class five student drank poison and died. He addressed in his suicide letter that he was a victim of his teacher’s harsh punishment.

- In Telangana, a 16-year-old girl tried to commit suicide by jumping off from the first floor of the school building because her math tutor scolded her in front of the entire class.

School is considered a ‘second home’ for children. Yet, for some, it is a place of fear and trauma – courtesy, the so-called harsh punishments meted out by teachers to students. Mumbai based psychologist Seema Hingorrany reveals what drives students to take such an extreme step of suicide (as mentioned in all the three cases above) and also throws light on how the issue can be addressed.

STUDENT’S SUICIDE: THE TRIGGER