Ragging drives student to suicide
Ragging of students in schools continues to take a heavy toll on their lives, with one victim, unable to bear the harassment, deciding to end her life, an inquiry into her death in Badulla was told.
Police conducting investigations
The student had managed to gain admission into Hali Ela MV, but her dreams of higher education were shattered after incidents of ragging, the student’s mother Ratnayaka Mudiyanselage Siriyawathi, 50, said.
Malisha Navodi Kumarasinghe, formally a student of Mugunamatha Vidyalaya in Uduwara, Badulla, was good in studies, sports, as well as in the arts.
Malisha Navodi Kumarasinghe
“At the time of her death, she had awards and some 35 certificates gained for her achievements. She passed her GCE (Advanced Level) without tuition,” the mother said.
The mother earned a living from a solitary cow and sold its milk to the villagers, in addition to working as a helper.
On June 6, Malisha went to her new school, hopeful of advancing her education.
“From the first day of school, she was not happy. She complained that she was subjected to ragging. Among the things she had been told to do was to give a rose flower to a boy and tell him that she loves him,” the mother told the inquest.
‘She was also told to mimic a three-wheeler reversing and parking. There were other acts they had got her to perform, which she did not describe. She told me she was unhappy about such incidents”, the mother added.
On June 12, Malisha refused to go to school and committed suicide on Tuesday.
Malisha's Mother
The inquest was held by the Inquirer into Sudden deaths, D.M. Leelaratne.
Hali- Ela education officials said there was no immediate inquiry into the incident.
Malisha’s remains could not be kept in their own house, due to lack of space, and was kept in a neighbour’s house.
Police spokesman SP Buddhika Siriwardena told Education Times that the police were due to record the statements of the students as well, to ascertain the facts.
“However, we have yet to find the reasons leading to the death, as they also had problems in the family,” he said.
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