‘Promised to change his school the day before he died’: Father of Class 10 boy who killed himself

The child, who was admitted to St Columba’s in Class 2, began to complain about his teachers’ behaviour soon after he began Class 10, the father said.

“He would tell me to get his school changed. I told him the day before he died that there were only 10 days of school left, after that he would have to go there only to take his exams… I promised to take him to another school next year,” he said.

In the FIR registered with police, the father alleged that four teachers, including the school’s headmistress, caused deep mental distress to his son, pushing him to take the drastic step.

“Yesterday [my son’s] classmates told me that in the last four days [a teacher] had threatened my son that she would call his parents and get his TC (transfer certificate) done. [Another teacher] has also pushed my son,” the father alleged.

According to the FIR, on November 18, the student fell down in dramatics class, and 0was mocked for it by his teacher. “[The teacher] told him that he was overacting and doing drama… After that she said no matter how much he (the student) cried, it would not make a difference to her,” the complaint alleged.

The police found a suicide note in the boy’s backpack, in which he apologised to his family for taking his own life. “What can I say, the teachers of my school are like this,” he wrote in the note.

On Thursday, a group of parents and friends of the boy’s family led a protest outside the gates of the school.

Satish Jadhav, who identified himself as a friend of the family, said, “His friends told us that he was interested in pursuing drama and was not getting good marks in his other subjects… Because of this, the school’s teachers would taunt him. They had been doing this for the past year but it really increased in the last two months.”

Other parents who were present at the gates of the school echoed some of the sentiments expressed by Jadhav.

The mother of a former student of the school who requested not to be identified said her son was still recovering from the trauma inflicted on him by a “lobby” of teachers.

“My son was good at debating but there was a lobby of teachers in the school who would favour certain children and put their names forward for competitions. All my son’s achievements were overlooked – the prizes he won, the trophies he got were never acknowledged. In class, the teachers would ridicule him… He became incredibly withdrawn after that. He graduated from this school this year and is now focusing on his mental health. He hates to even look at the school when we pass by the building,” the woman said.