A ninth-grader of Holy Cross Girls School and College reportedly committed suicide by jumping from the top of the 10-story building she lived in on Tuesday, but the police are still unsure as to why she did so.
The news outlet Deutsche Welle reported on the alleged suicide on Thursday, quoting Assistant Commissioner of Police Mahmud Hasan as saying that the girl went straight to the roof after returning from school and jumped to her death in her uniform.
She even hesitated at first when people on the playground below tried to dissuade her from jumping, but she eventually did, according to the senior police officer.
The police were still trying to find the reason behind her suicide, he added.
Many of her fellow students and parents on Wednesday pointed the finger at a teacher, saying they deliberately gave poor marks to students who did not take private lessons.
Hasibuzzaman, a bank official whose niece was a classmate of the ninth-grader, said many girls had failed the first term higher maths exam.
He said he had spoken to his niece and parents of other students, and claimed that the students had been deliberately given poor marks.
The girl failed both her first and second term higher maths exams and was discussing the matter with her classmates on Tuesday, Hasibuzzaman said, adding that her parents were supposed to be called by the school on Thursday.
Many students felt anxious when they heard that teachers might insult the parents of the students who had failed exams, he said. “The girl’s friends asked her how she would handle her parents… A few hours later the news of her death came on social media.”
The deceased girl’s mother also blamed the teacher in question, but she said the family would not take any legal action over the incident. She said he had heard that the higher maths teacher had been angry at the students because of their poor results.
Denying the allegations of rude behaviour, another teacher of the school, Rokeya Begum, said: “Many media outlets have quoted the girl’s parents as saying she was first in her class. But this is not the case; she would always get mediocre results in exams.
“The girl failed in higher mathematics and biology in the first term. In the second term she failed in higher mathematics, biology as well as general mathematics.”
If it had been the fault of that one teacher, she would not have failed other exams, she added.
Some other teachers and students said the girl’s parents had been very strict with her.
When asked about the matter, the girl’s mother denied it, adding that her husband only said he would cut off the internet connection if she failed the exams again.
Probe panel to look into allegations against
Although the girl’s family is against filing a case, the authorities have launched an investigation into her death.
The Directorate of Inspection and Audit under the education ministry formed a two-strong probe panel on Wednesday. DIA Deputy Director Rehana Khatun is heading the investigation.
"We received a complaint that the student died by suicide because of humiliation after she failed the higher mathematics tests in the first and second terms. There are allegations that she was given poor marks by the teacher of that subject as she did not take private lessons,” DIA Director Prof Oliullah Md Ajmatgir said.
The committee visited the school and obtained the girl’s answer scripts on Wednesday.
The panel and some of the education board members would reexamine the papers to see if the teacher had deliberately given her poor marks, Prof Oliullah said.
