Bengaluru: 15-year-old girl suicide moves government teachers

Bengaluru: The tragic suicide of a 15-year-old girl, a student of government school in Chamarajanagar district Saagade village, has moved the government school teachers and several NGO activists in Bengaluru. The 15-year-old student purportedly committed suicide as her parents, construction workers, could not afford a smartphone. She was reportedly upset over missing the online classes.

Reacting to the incident, a programme officer for the America India Foundation, termed it sad and reflective of the grave inequity in state-run versus private education. "It is sad that a young student had to die for no fault of hers.

It reflects the apathy of the state government in providing the necessary infrastructure to impart education to the underprivileged sections of our society. We are aware of the pitiable situation in places like Raichur and Kodagu but never expected that this would happen in Chamrajanagar," saidRajguru Hiremath, programme officer for America India Foundation, an NGO. She said the virtual engagement with students has become a new normal in these times of Covid-19 and denying the same to the government schools is a grave injustice.

"Private schools have already embraced digital education and online classes are reaching out to maximum number of students. However, the same does not hold true in the government schools. Reaching out to students through virtual mode is major challenge due to their socio-economic conditions. Most of parents whose children go to the government.

schools cannot afford smartphones. Even if they have smartphones, children do not have access to them as parents carry their mobiles to attend their regular works," he said.

A primary school teacher, Suresh from Government School in Dasarahalli said the government should realise that children from poorer families neither have smartphones nor television sets. "At least, in Bengaluru some teachers are risking their lives and going to the houses of the students but this incident clearly shows that such efforts are not being taken elsewhere," he said.

Seconding Suresh's opinion, Vidya Krishnan from the same school told The Hans India that the unfortunate incident should serve as an eye-opener for the government.

"Not only the government schools, even in private schools where fees are not high the students have told me that the situation is bad. In households with more than two children, how can parents buy smartphones? Such incidents are unfortunately happening across the nation," she added.