[www.inewsguyana.com] – As the world observed Suicide Prevention Day, a 14 – year – old boy hung himself inside his parents’ garage on September 10, 2015.
Dead is Joshua Beepat also called ‘Jags’ of Third Street, Rose Hall Town, Corentyne, Region Six; he was discovered hanging in the garage by a rope from the neck by his mother at approximately 04:00 hrs.
Initially, the family was at a loss as to what might have led the teenager to commit such an act; however his father, Ramnauth Beepat, eventually found out that his son was embarrassed by a teacher at the Lower Corentyne Secondary School earlier in the week after he reportedly touched a female classmate inappropriately.
According to the distraught father, the teacher scolded his son in front his classmates, who then began teasing him for quite some time and if that wasn’t enough, the child was further embarrassed during the school’s Assembly when the teacher spoke about the issue.
The family is calling on the Ministry of Education to investigate the report, pointing out that although they are hurt and upset at the loss of their son, they do not want another child to face a similar situation.
iNews understands that Regional Officials visited the family and promised to investigate the report.
On Thursday, Junior Minister of Public Health, Dr Karen Cummings called for the media to play a more proactive role in creating awareness on suicide as well as putting the spot light on preventative measures.
The Minister, who was at the time speaking a forum in Black Bush Polder, East Berbice pointed out that according to information obtained from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the suicide rate worldwide is 7.3 per every 100,000 persons.
Whereas, in Guyana it is 44.2 per 100,000 persons, making it the country with the highest suicide rate in the world. This according to her is “absolutely unacceptable…and our government, my government, your government, our government is committed to working on this problem”.
The Minister also pointed out that studies have proven that farming areas usually have the highest suicide rates, since pesticides and chemicals are easily accessible. Further, she noted that it has also been noted that the victims are often of East Indian decent.
Minister Cummings further highlighted that the Ministry is working along with several partners to create a policies and documentations to guide the approach towards reducing suicide in Guyana.
Of course the government have something to do with it.guyanese need to move on from that royal ass system that was created ad a form of instutionalised racism and masked as a form of education ser up by tbat royas ass monarchy thar is royal ass still there,amd many of u when u leave guyana and come here to america u settle for fa tory jobs and imitedated ti further your education because that royal ass system failed u in guyana.when they royal tell u your credit is no good open yoir mouth and tell them if they royal ays xid not enslave us 200 years ago u would have as ll bagga as h money in ah dee bankk all now and yuh would not nwed dee blood claaaat credt, u would ah h as v ed ready cash like wbat they paid the indian ind we ntired labours back in ah dee day and beat our black ass to work for free and rape and fted the black woman demm and still nah want show the black k man dee respeck even if he tried twice as hard to be himself.me wuuk ak place in canada heey and me see white man nah ansa when yuh seh good morning and yuh old door fuh him and he khaant seh thanks ,but withvthe same token of was as black woman,he wuddah skin teeth and khak wodc rrrrrr.dont be blind my people be real..jah mKe I in ah him own likenesx and bless I ..and wha jah bless no royal ass curse.
One love, dreddy c
It is true that farming areas have the highest suicide rate (not only in Guyana).
It is true that the victims are East Indians (in Guyana) because most farmers are East Indians.
It is a wrong assumption that it is ACCESSIBILITY to pesticides that contributes to suicide. Rather it is EXPOSURE to pesticides and agro-chemicals. Exposure to pesticides causes severe depression over time. By storing chemicals at home; entire families can suffer depression leading to suicidal inclinations. Do a search on the internet. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401566/Do-Pesticides-Cause-Depression.html is only one of the many sites validating my claim.
Also pesticides and chemicals have different effects on the central nervous system of Indians compared to other races. Just as Motival (now discontinued) works well on Indians to treat depression but has almost no effect on Africans.
East Indians are hard working and dedicated people like many other people. They value life and are not foolish. The high rate of suicide among East Indians in Guyana is deeper rooted and we must not come to hasty generalizations and conclusions.
really tht teacher did not handle the situation In a professional manner she neaded to be taught some lesson that is a kid and there is better ways and things u could have done so I am sorry for the family tht lost their child
That teacher have no right to embarrassed any student and the parents should be called in, I hope she is fired and if she have kids, they should be taken from her, because she will do worse to her own kids,you are there to teach, not to embarrassed students, slap her a law suit also
This is the reason why these school have offices to deal with situation like that.The Ministry of Education should investigate the teacher first and if the teacher acted unprofessionaly hold her accountable and take drastic action. The school and the heahmaster should call both parents to the school.My condolences goes out to the family
Rasheed I think we are on the same page.
I would wonder if t if that teacher is capable of or trained properly to handle such duration, if the ministry of education is gonna discipline that teacher at all,and most of all they should look into if this teacher ever do any bad things at all when he/she was a student. If this was my child he’ll would break loose.
i honestly dobt think the teacher is to,be blamed they should dig deeper. our teachers cant hit then so speaking openly is also gonna be a problem too
people like blame the government the government don’t have nothing to do with this
the teacher was not wrong he was not suppose to hole people girl child and he was not suppose to commit suicide for that boys now of these day get really bad when i uses to go to school teacher uses to beat me infront the class and today i did not regret it because i am am some body for my self
The statistic is staggering I can’t imagine over 300 suicides per year in Guyana!
What an irrelevant, jackass posting. Sad that the boy felt forced to commit suicide. Also sad that the girl’s dignity was offended. There were two victims here. How does politics come into the matter?
can someone tell than ignorant racial Dk that pnc not in power .
Did you investigate before you released this piece of news. Its absolutely false. You need to stop scandalizing peoples names. Teachers are always having to hold the buck for everything, but God is good.
this is so sad, HI TEACHER , YOU HAVE FAILED, WHERE ARE YOU FROM, THAT NOT THE WAY TO TEACH, WE ALL AS KDS HAS A PHASE IN LIFE WE ALL HVE TO PASS THROUGH, THAT KID IS GOING THROUGH HIS WE ALL BEING THERE, YOU NEED TO BE MORE SUTTLE NOT BEEF UP, WITH YOU BEING RIGHT, AND HE IS WRONG,,,,,,,,,,,HOW DO YOU FEEL,NOW……..HE KILLED YOU WHEN HE KILLED HIMSELF, …….NOW YOU ARE A WLKING DEAD,………….KIDS IN THIS TIME ARE VERY SENSITIVE . YOU ARE GONG TO BE HATED…………..I AM A TEACHER, I HAVE BEEN ALL OVER THE WORLD, , THIS IS LOW…………
Each child/student is a unique person/personality., and as such should be delt with in a personal way. I am certain that this teacher did not do what she did precicely to make the boy take his life. This is an all-round ‘Greek’ tragedy. My condolences to all.
It is very sad and distressing for any parents have to loose a child and especially in such a manner for a mum to find her child with a rope around his neck. My condolences go out to this family. My prayer is that you find grace in the eyes of the almighty God.
I will be very happy that the news will raise awareness to all the young men out there that they just can’t go around touching young girls inappropriately and think it’s ok to do so, if that teacher had received that complain and didn’t do anything then he would have been in trouble with the girl’s parents so by doing what he think is the right thing to do either way he still get himself into a limbo.
Sad
The family is calling on the Ministry of Education to investigate the report, pointing out that although they are hurt and upset at the loss of their son, they do not want another child to face a similar situation.
Asking this education ministry to investigate is like throwing water on duck back.
Does anyone in their right mind think that PNC Roopnarie has Guyanese interest at heart?
If he and PNC did they won’t be the ruling government would they?
They wanted power either through the back door side door slide door trap door.
I am angry at the teacher for scolding the child in front of the class, that was very wrong. Then she had to mention it yet again in from of the whole class. She should have dealt with the child in private, she should be fired.