Student attempts suicide at school

A 15-year-old schoolboy yesterday attempted suicide in his classroom. "Wi go in one of the classrooms and saw him with the cord around his neck and the other end was in the ceiling and he was standing on the chair," an eyewitness told THE STAR.

The incident took place just before 8 a.m.

Students who discovered the boy standing on the chair with the cord around his neck raised an alarm and persons rushed to get him down.

The Children's Advocate, Diahann Gordon-Harrison, said that she wasn't aware of the incident.

She, however, said that her agency has received reports of incidents in which children try to take their own lives.

"We have a huge spike the other day so it is always on our radar," she said.

ADDRESSED ISSUES

Gordon-Harrison told THE STAR that there are many things that may cause a child to want to take his life and so measures are often put in place to ensure that the issue or issues are addressed.

"In terms of long-term, we will make contact with the family and see what type of support we can get (to them). If it's long-term counselling support, we assist with that. Sometimes if there are deeper issues that involve parenting and child conflict and so on, then we see how best we can assess it," she said.