Vijayawada: Several students’ organisations and political parties on Friday staged protests over the suicide of Guttikonda Vidya Chowdary in a corporate college here, recently.
As the girl in her suicide note mentioned that she resorted to the extreme step due to stress, police changed Sections of the case and registered a case under IPC 306.
G. Purnachandra Rao, father of the girl, alleged that his daughter died due to torture by the staff of the college. He alleged that the college management have tried to conceal the facts.
Meanwhile, CPM activists, led by party city secretary Ch. Babu Rao,?staged a dharna at the sub-collector’s office here?on Friday?demanding action?against the management. Rao said that there have been over 10 deaths of students of corporate colleges in the city during 2013 due to?extreme pressure and harassment at the hands of the teaching staff to secure good ranks. He blamed minister for secondary education K. Parthasa-rathi, in whose constituency the incident occurred, for failing to respond to the situation.
Rao said that a committee should be formed?with parents, teachers and officials to prevent similar suicides in corporate colleges.
YSR Congress leader Tadi Sakuntala submitted a memorandum to sub-collector D. Harichandana demanding action against management of the corporate college. Students led by Students Federation of India also staged dharna at the sub-collector’s office demanding action on erring management.
Speaking to this newspaper over phone, Purnachandra Rao said that his daughter complained of torture by some lecturers. He said that they convinced her and dropped her in the hostel before the incident.
Purnachandra Rao’s elder daughter is also studying in a corporate college in Vijayawada and staying in a hostel. He demanded action aga-inst the management for trying to conceal facts in the death of his daughter.
V. Brahmaiah, uncle of the deceased, said that Vidya was a bright student and secured 9.8 grade marks in Class X.
Commenting on the increasing tendency to commit suicide among students of corporate colleges, noted psychologist I. Vikas said that parents should not pressurise children to sec-ure good ranks by remi-nding them repeatedly about the money spent towards their education.
“This would result in stress among children who fail to secure good ranks,” Dr Vikas said.
He pointed out that pa-rents should spend quality time with their children and should not impose their dreams on them.
He recommended frequent counselling sessions for weak students in corporate colleges to prevent suicidal tendencies in them. He said classes should be conducted on positive thin-king and regular sports activity too to alleviate depression and stres
It may be noted that three students – S. Pras-annakumar in July, Es-war in October and Ch. Vijayakrishna Swaroop in November — died in corporate college hoste-ls at Gollapudi this year.
