Parents, friends protest in front of Delhi school after Class 10 student’s suicide

Delhi school: Parents and friends of a Class 10 student who ended his life over alleged mental harassment by some teachers staged a protest outside the St Columba’s school on Thursday, demanding strict action against the accused teachers and accountability from the private school.

There was no immediate reaction from the school administration to the allegations.

The victim student’s aunt claimed the family had been unaware of the extent of his suffering.

“He was depressed for so long. He kept complaining, but we stayed quiet because he was in Class 10. He even told his school counsellors and teachers that he was going to commit suicide, but none of them informed us. We only heard this from his friends today,” she told PTI.

The student’s sister said he was extremely talented in dance and theatre and had recently won a competition, but the school “refused to give him the certificate”.

Police said the Class 10 boy jumped from the platform of Rajendra Place Metro Station at 2.34 pm on Tuesday. He was taken to BLK Super Speciality Hospital, where he was declared dead.

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According to a senior police officer, the student left behind a suicide note in which he named a few teachers, blaming them for his mental distress, demanded strict action against them, and said his organs should be donated.

The student’s friends claimed the alleged harassment had started in Class 8. One insisted that on the day of the incident, the 16-year-old boy had told them in their Drama club that he wanted to be “the next Shah Rukh Khan of St Columba’s,” but a teacher mocked him for “overacting” and humiliated him after he slipped and fell.

Another friend claimed he tried to stop the boy, in deep distress, from running out of the school premises, but was pushed away.

“Scolding is one thing, but constantly humiliating someone for even minute mistakes in front of everyone is unacceptable. The teachers were not just reprimanding, they were targeting, and this is being done with many of us,” he claimed.

A parent at the Thursday protest site, who reportedly shared an auto with the boy when he had rushed out of the school, recalled that the Class 10 student had red eyes and had warned her against admitting her child in that school.