Motive

In the summer of 2019, a class 10 student of a reputed school in Kolkata, India, chose to end her life. She was found in her school’s washroom with multiple slash injuries on her wrist, leaving behind a three pages long suicide note, suggesting worry and stress, that she had not been able to sleep soundly for the last three months and saying that no other one was to blame for her death. Her parents were devastated. They had no clue that their daughter would do something like this. They lost their only child.

At school, everyone felt devastated and helpless. Just before their student and classmate took her own life, she was seen smiling and chatting with friends like other days. Her teachers characterised her as an intelligent and polite child. She was lively and cheerful, and her bright pair of eyes would always sparkle when she was asked to answer a question in class. Her tutor called her an extraordinarily brilliant student. She had topped most of her exams during school life. No one had the slightest idea of her sad suicide plans, and everyone felt devastated.

‘We felt so sorry, dear little one, that we could not save you. Sorry as a parent, as a teacher, as a classmate, as a friend, and as a mental health professional. We wished that you could have talked to someone about what was bothering you’. These are some thoughts of Arnoud Huibers (The Netherlands) and Tilottama Mukherjee (India), both psychologists, when they heard the sad news. They felt that they should do something and then took the initiative to set up a new project. Together with colleagues and friends, they set up a project with the main purpose to provide schools with counsellors that are easily accessible for students going through a difficult time, when they’re not comfortable talking to family or friends about what worries them.