A Class 4 student who died by suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of a prestigious school in Jaipur was bullied for 18 months and was told "bad words" but her class teacher repeatedly dismissed her and her parents complaints on the matter.
A report prepared by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on the suicide at Neerja Modi School that sent shockwaves across the state also said the institute grossly violated safety norms.
It said that authorities failed to keep a tab on the movement of nine-year-old Amaira Kumar Meena, who managed to reach the fourth floor of the building, despite her classroom being on the ground floor.
Besides, the campus lacked safety steel nets on higher floors to prevent accidents. Such violations led to the loss of an "innocent child" who faced "unbearable trauma and mental harassment".
On November 1, Amaira jumped from the fourth floor of the school building and died on the spot. Her parents alleged she was bullied, teased and verbally abused with "sexual connotations" and that repeated complaints were unaddressed by the school authorities.
What happened on day of suicide?
In its report, the CBSE probe committee highlighted the circumstances leading to the child's suicide. It said Amaira was spotted "engaging in positive conversations, dancing and eating chocolate and golgappa, appearing happy and laughing before 11am".
Trouble seemed to break out after 11am when she appeared disturbed over the contents on a digital slate. A group of boys "wrote/made something. Amaira's reaction showed her to be 'puzzled and surprised' displaying embarrassment, and asking them to stop or erase what was written," the report said.
Amaira also wrote something on the digital slate and then urged the removal of the content. "The teacher's intervention was very much needed," the CBSE observed.
The report highlighted the class teacher's lack of support, saying Amaira approached her five times and sought her support for 45 minutes but was not offered any help.
"Instead of supporting her, Puneeta ma'am dismissed the problem. She was seen shouting multiple times and said things that 'shocked the entire class'. Amaira felt concerned and harassed by few classmates and no support or intervention by teachers," the report said.
It said the girl skipped her lunch that day. It also attributed her "untimely death" to the "teacher's non-response, lack of hearing and absence of empathy/sensitivity to problems. If she would have intervened at first place the problem could not have reach to this magnitude," it said.
Past instances of bullying, school's lack of apathy
The CBSE report cited several instances wherein Amaira was bullied by her classmates.
It said that in September, Amaira's father had approached her class teacher after she was bullied by a boy. The teacher, however, said the student "needs to adjust with other kids".
Days later in October, the same boy allegedly misquoted Amaira's "hello" as saying "I love you" in public. The class teacher and coordinator did not intervene but the boy's mother made him apologise after Amaira's mother raised the matter with her, the report said.
It also said that in May last year, Amaira's mother approached the school when a child showed the girl the middle finger. "The message did not get a response from the teacher," the report said.
"As per the statements of the parents given to the committee, it is clear that the school did not take any preventive and proactive action on the repeated complaint of bullying and teasing by the classmates. The class teacher (Puneeta Sharma) and the school management were very well aware about the harassment and the trauma being faced by the deceased girl. The conversation and communications made by the parents to the class teacher and the school management went unheard," the report said.
The committee also said "it seems something unusual happened in class and she is looking extremely disturbed. Few hot discussions, among students, are also observed and it may be related to use of bad words and some derogatory comments as per parents observation and video footage".
The report said Sharma admitted that the student had approached her over a classmate using "bad words". "The fellow classmate refused using such words. However, some other children had also made complaints.... It appears that the school failed to maintain healthy atmosphere and there was no specific and required measures to tackle such incidents of bullying...," it said.
