Class 12 Girl Dies in TN School, Police Suspect Suicide

Chennai: A class 12 girl student of a government school in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district died on Wednesday. The police suspect the death to be a case of suicide. This is the fifth case of alleged suicide case in Tamil Nadu in the last two months.

The police said the girl was found in an unconscious state in the classroom and was taken to the Kannai Primary Health Centre and from there to the Villupuram Government Hospital where she died.

It may be recalled that last month, the suicide of a Class 12 girl student at the hostel of a private school in Kallakurichi led to the public ransacking the school and setting school buses and police vans on fire.

A few more girl students committed suicide in different incidents in the state recently, leading the state school education department to conduct awareness programmes among school students.

This another case, a Class XII student died by suicide near Virudhachalam in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district this week, prompting Chief Minister M K Stalin to voice his concern. Stalin said that those who run educational institutions should do so as a service, not a business, and should provide self-confidence to students.

According to the police, the latest incident took place on Monday night when the girl was alone at home. Sources said the student had written an exam on the day and she was reportedly unhappy with her performance. The family, after realising that the girl had not come out of her room for a long time, opened her room with the help of neighbours and found her body. They rushed her to a nearby private hospital but she was declared dead on arrival.