Unable to bear the humiliation of being “slapped” by a teacher and thrown out of the examination hall, a Class 6 student committed suicide on Thursday. Aparna Misra jumped to death from the terrace of the five-storeyed school building in Howrah.
The Hindi teacher of St. Dominic Savio School, Brij Kishor Prasad had allegedly shouted at Aparna accusing her of cheating and had slapped her when she denied the charge. She was then asked to leave the classroom. But the 11-year-old asked for permission to use the bathroom and went to the terrace of the five-storeyed building and jumped off. Interestingly, the school is housed on two floors of the five-storyed residential complex at Khashbagan in Howrah which falls under the Golabari police station area. The accused teacher and principal Dilip Kumar Dubey were detained by the police.
According to the classmates of Aparna, they were appearing for the chemistry examination when Mr Prasad saw her speaking to another student and rebuked her. He also took away the answer script. Mr Dubey said, “I scolded her for speaking during the examination but did not beat her. I held her ears. I even told her to take a fresh paper and write her exam, but she sought my permission to go the toilet. Then she never came back,” the teacher said.
When Aparna’s distraught parents rushed her to hospital, they were told that she had not survived. The girl’s father, Shiv Narayanan Misra alleged that her daughter had been slapped by the teacher. He also demanded explanation from the school authorities how a young girl managed to make her way to the terrace of her school without any adult noticing or intercepting her.
“She was my only daughter and we had brought her up with so much care. The school authorities killed her and are now trying to defame my daughter by alleging that she took unfair means during the examination. She was a bright students and had never failed in class. The teacher and the principal must be arrested,” Mr Misra said.