What drove 13-year-old M Vasanthapiriya to make an attempt on her life? She had everything to look forward to. She had only just started secondary school, and was about to take her first steps into the adult world.
The death of the Form Two student from a school in Nibong Tebal, Penang, should shame all of us. Parents. Teachers. Heads of schools. Politicians. Civil servants. Everyone in society.
Vasanthapiriya was the youngest of four siblings – a good, quiet girl and, by all accounts, a loving daughter.
She was apprehended by several teachers and accused of stealing an iPhone 6 belonging to one of them. She was questioned and confined to a room before being driven home by the accuser and her husband. There were also reports that one of the teachers struck her during questioning.
The events that took place that day should not have been allowed. It begs the question of what happens to other students who are in similar positions. Are teachers not told that they are not allowed to take matters into their own hands?
What is the standard operating procedure (SOP) for dealing with a student who is accused of theft? Vasanthapiriya was allegedly confined for five hours without any food or toilet break. Is this normal SOP?
Did other teachers, staff members or students notice what had happened? Did they think it was normal?
During my school days, teachers had eyes at the back of their heads. No one could slip from a classroom without them noticing. News of a student being locked up would have reverberated around the school.
Vasanthapiriya was brought before her parents by the teacher and her husband, and they repeated the allegation that the girl had stolen the phone.
Following this humiliation, Vasanthapiriya wrote a suicide note and attempted to take her life by hanging herself with a shawl in her bedroom.
In her note, she protested her innocence, saying, “Teacher, I never took your phone.”
Last October, another teenager committed suicide after his parents were summoned by the school to talk about his behaviour. He was expelled and took his life on the same day.
The mental health of our teenagers must not be ignored. There are ways of dealing with their problems, but our schools and teachers appear ill-equipped for this.
This is not the first time a child has died leaving behind a note expressing his feelings. Remember 11-year-old Mohd Thaqif Amin Muhammad Gaddafi, who claimed he had been beaten and picked on by an assistant warden at his tahfiz school.
The school dismissed his note. Let us hope that the school and education authorities do not do the same to Vasanthapiriya’s last words.
Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.
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