Shardashram: Now,Class V student airs death wish

Police investigating the case,meanwhile,said that the boy’s wrists had some old slash marks.

On Tuesday,a Class V student was overheard saying that he would like to kill himself to attract attention. “This morning,a teacher of Class V overheard a student talk in an awestruck manner about how Sushant’s suicide had attracted publicity and attention. To the teacher’s shock,the student,who may be not more than 10 years old,loudly proclaimed that even he would like to kill himself to have TV crews,police and others come rushing,” said Sumati Kamble,principal of Shardashram’s Marathi medium School.

The teacher took the student to Kamble and his mother was summoned. “We counselled the child and told him about the trauma of suicide. We asked his mother not to put any undue pressure on him. We will hold counselling sessions for parents in the coming week. We have already called a parent-teacher meet to discuss the same,” said Kamble.

In another incident,the school watchman apprehended three students who had changed from their uniform and were walking out of the gate. “The watchman grew suspicious as classes were on and marched them to my office. They confessed that they were sneaking out to catch a show of 3 Idiots,” said Kamble,who added that they have advised students to avoid the film and not to be blindly inspired by it.

The teachers said they have always had a counselling system addressed at students with behavioural or study-related problems. The school also has a database of personal details of students as part of an initiative named Darpan.

“Our teachers keep an eye out for any children who may behave strangely,are hyperactive,depressed or fare poorly in studies. They are counselled by us or sent to experts at Sion Hospital and we regularly call psychologists to address students and parents. However,Sushant,though poor in studies,never behaved in an unusual or worrisome way in school. Hence allegations that the school had put pressure on him are baseless,” said Prakash Suru,assistant principal.

Dadar police investigating the suicide case said Sushant’s wrist had old slash marks that might have been made with a blade indicating he may have tried to slash his wrists earlier. “From what we have gathered,the child may have been disturbed. While his father admitted to having yelled at him for failing in some subjects,he has not admitted to hitting him. We have recorded his statement but are yet to record the mother’s statement,which may make the sequence of events that may have led to this act clear,” said police sub-inspector M D Varhadi.