The reason behind four girls commit suicide by jumping into well: Classmate’s revelation

Shocking revelations are coming out after four students of 11^th standard in Government Girls Higher Secondary School at Panapakkam, a village near Vellore killed themselves by jumping into a well. The 11 girls were allegedly threatened with dismissal from school unless they brought their parents along the next day. The incident is a case of racial harassment by the teachers.

The classmates of the suicide students shared stories of that harrowing day at school that had left many of them insulted and intimidated. The incident which led to her friend’s suicide begins with marks got in a quarterly examination. She said that the Tamil teacher was giving out answer sheets of the quarterly exam. My friend Sankari got only half a mark for a two-mark question. She called me from the backbench, where she was sitting, and asked me how much I had got. I said I got full marks for that question. The teacher caught us whispering, got angry and shouted at us. Sankari told the teacher that we were only asking each other’s marks. She called us names, said she would report us to the headmistress and left the room.

After that, the entire class was asked to assemble on the ground. The special assembly turned out to be a public trial, where headmistress Rama Mani and the other teachers allegedly picked on students, scolded them and threatened them with activities for their “bad behavior” – talking in the classroom, talking back and being disrespectful to teachers.

Another teacher blamed our behavior on our parents’ lack of education. We were all shivering and crying as the headmistress threatened to issue us transfer certificates,” said one of the students, talking through her tears. She was among the 11 whom the teachers had singled out.

The four girls say Sankari, Revathi, Manisha, and Deepa were committed suicide after the assembly ‘trial’. At 4.30 pm, as the other students left, as punishment, the 11 were sent back to their classes for a special class of one hour. After the class, the four students went missing and later found dead bodies from nearby well.

Pradeep Yadav, Principal Secretary, School Education Department, says two teachers, including the headmistress, have been suspended. The teachers found guilty in the investigation will face severe action,” he said.