‘Class 10 boy who died by suicide regularly visited school counselling room, was looking for someone to talk to’

She claimed that he had been suspended earlier this year by the school. “He was just looking for an outlet, somebody to listen to, somebody to understand and somebody to talk to. Children need love and attention. Somebody in whom they look for a safe space… the person will not judge them for what they are doing and rather give a solution. He did not meet anybody like that. As parents, it is easy to not understand where we are going wrong.”

Many parents said the school WhatsApp groups remained silent for hours after the boy died. Teachers, they said, learnt of the incident only late at night on November 18.

“One of my son’s friends messaged asking if there was any issue with the Class 10 boy… The friend said they were passing by his house and saw people crying. That’s how we found out…,” said the parent of the boy’s classmate.

The parent added, “Nobody talked about the incident in the school or class WhatsApp groups. We just left a message for the teachers. None of them had any idea about it till late at night.”

The parent said she had previously discussed her own child’s issues with the school. “During Covid-19 pandemic, he was depressed. During parent-teacher meetings, I was informed about the issues. My younger one used to play games during online classes… We as parents and teachers worked on this together.”

“While parents are informed about behavioural issues, many do not take them seriously. Behavioural issues are a combination of factors. I have two boys, both teenagers. You cannot shout at them. You have to become a safe space,” she added.

Her elder son in Class 12 told her that the school conducts life skills and counselling sessions.

“But this (incident) is quite unfortunate. A story always has two sides,” she said.

Another parent, meanwhile, said his experience of the school has been entirely positive. “I am very satisfied with the school. It is a very good school. My son is a student… Things happen. There is nothing like teachers being abusive and there is a lot of pressure.”

“A certain type of discipline is important… I think most of the parents are really happy. The real thing is that nobody knows what happened,” he added.

A former PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) member shared the same view. “If my child is getting harassed in the school, I will take care of the child. There are worse things that happen outside school. We have to prepare them. We have to make them mentally strong… My son has studied here from KG.”

“Whatever happened is extremely wrong. But we cannot blame anybody. The school has been really good,” the parent said.

The parent acknowledged that the school faced “issues” in the early years of its inception. “Yes, they are very harsh… A teacher had told me once that ‘you must have heard about the school, how strict it is.”

Another parent whose child studied in the school from KG to Class 12 said the culture of strictness has always existed in St Columba’s. “It is a school for boys. Teachers are strict. But still there have been issues. Only recently, a fight broke out in one of the school vans… between students in Class 10 and Class 12.”

“It (the suicide) is very disturbing and school authorities have been silent. No parent wants to talk about it. Teachers are also worried… The guilty should be punished,” the parent added.

Dr Sudhir Husaley, whose son also studies in Class 10, said he had never heard of any concern. “Everything has been normal. There have been no issues,” he added.

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