Viqarunnisa Noon School and College head of the governing body publicly apologised for the suicide of ninth-grade student Aritree Adhikari.
“I express my condolences at the untimely death of one of our students; I apologise for it,” said Golam Asharaf Talukder, Chairman of the school’s governing body on Thursday (Dec 6).
Apologizing publicly was one of the demands the students of Viqarunnisa had who have been occupying a stretch of Bailey Road in front of the school, ratcheting up calls for the resignations of the teachers and prosecuting them of criminal offences.
Saying that most of their demands have been met, Talukder added, “We are not being able to reach the secretary of the governing board as he is one of the accused in the case.”
“We will hand over his responsibility to another person and call for a meeting and make the rest of the decision.”
He also called for the students who have been blocking the roads to go back to their classes.
The body of ninth-grader Aritree Adhikari was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her room locked from inside on Monday (Dec 3).
The family of the 15-year-old girl claimed she committed suicide after the principal insulted her and the parents of because she had cheated in an exam.
The principal refuted the allegation of insulting the parents and said that they were called only to inform about that Aritree was barred from an exam on Sunday (Dec 2) after she was found to be cheating by using a cell phone.
On Wednesday (Dec 5), school authorities sacked Acting Principal Nazneen Ferdous, class teacher Hasna Hena, and morning shift in-charge Zinat Akhtar after Aritree's suicide sparked anger.
Later in the night, police arrested Hena, who was in-charge of the ninth grader’s class, at her Uttara home in the capital.
Meanwhile, the students have taken to the street refusing to go back to class unless their six-point demands are met which include stepping down of the governing body and counselling for students according to their individual needs.
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