A Grade 10 student in India, who came from a poor family, committed suicide on June 1 by setting herself on fire after failing to attend her online classes.
According to her parents, the student got upset because their TV was not functioning and the battery of the only phone in their house was empty. Her father said that since he is under a no-work-no-pay status following the lockdown in India, he could not afford to get their TV fixed.
These then hampered the student from attending her school’s virtual lessons. In a report by Gulf News, they said that the girl looked crestfallen and was all by herself the entire day.
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Gulf News added in its report that when the student went missing, the mother called for a search. The searchers found her burned body around 200 meters from their house—with a bottle of kerosene located near her corpse.
According to local legislator Abid Hussain Thangal, the tragedy could have been avoided if the education authorities made plans to cater to students who do not have access to TV or mobile phones.
“We had raised this aspect with the education authorities but do not think there were any arrangements for those who did not have a TV or a smart phone. She was a very bright student,” Gulf News quoted Thangal as saying.
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