Suicide Of Teen Boy In MP Under Pressure From School To Pay Fees Shows Tough Times For Children

The past few months have been a struggle for a large section of the Indian population due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown.

Millions have lost their jobs and livelihoods while others have seen their incomes reduce drastically.

This has left a lot of them unable to support their families during these tough times.

One of the immediate consequences of this is how a large number of children are being forced to drop out of school as their parents are not able to pay the fees.

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There have been several cases were schools refused online classes to students over nonpayment of fees.

But a school's actions took a tragic turn in Indore, Madhya Pradesh where a 15-year-old boy died of suicide with his relative claiming that the boy was under pressure from the school to pay outstanding fees. Harendra Singh Gurjar died on Monday night, allegedly due to pressure from the school.

Harendra hailed from Morena and was living with his brother-in-law Dilip Singh Gurjar in Indore.

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Dilip Singh claimed that the authorities at the private school where Harendra studied were pressuring him to pay fees, due to which the boy was under stress. Asked about the allegation, sub-inspector Sargaiya said the police were yet to record any statements.

"We will formally record his statement and investigate the role of the school in this case," he added.

"It seems to be a case of suicide. We have not yet found any note or letter, though," said sub-inspector Dharmendra Sargaiya of Lusudia police station.

Last week Indore had witnessed dramatic scenes after some women had stopped the convoy of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to protest about private schools demanding fees amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Chouhan had assured them that he would take appropriate steps.

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In June there was a similar incident in Kerala where a Class 10 student died of suicide after she was not able to attend online classes. Devika a resident of the Mankeri Dalit colony in Walanchery committed suicide on the same day when Kerala government launched 'First Bell' a virtual class for school students, who could either watch it on a dedicated TV channel Kite Victers or online platforms.

But for Devika, there were no options to attend the class as the TV set at home was not functional and her father, a daily wage worker who had been without a job for nearly two months did not have a smartphone.

The police found the suicide note of Devika, in which she had written 'I am going' in a notebook.