The father of Alex Persaud, the 16-year-old who committed suicide after being expelled from the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) over a relationship with a teacher, has alleged that teachers at the school knew about the relationship and did nothing.
Harrynarine Persaud says his son was expelled by the school without either him or his wife being informed. He also says the teachers were quick to accuse and embarrass the teen instead of resolving the situation.
“Tell me…why didn’t these teachers who knew and saw my son and this teacher catching buses and taxi and talking didn’t tell us sooner or tell the principal? Why did they wait until the teacher resign to call us to the office?” Persaud questioned.
The teen drank weedicide on October 6 and succumbed at the Woodlands Hospital on October 10, just hours after being admitted.
When Stabroek News visited the school, Principal Swami Aksharananda refused to comment on the allegations. “Enough has been said already about this and I’m not going to comment on it… this is the only thing I will answer—the teacher never returned,” he stated.
Chief Education Officer Olato Sam said he could not comment on the matter at this point because the Ministry of Education was now gathering information. “It would be premature to say anything right now,” Sam said, noting, however, that he would speak soon about it.
According to Persaud, on October 4th he received a telephone call from the principal and was told to visit his office. He said when he arrived, Aksharananda summoned his son and another teacher. He then informed him that he would have to find another school for his son because he was involved in a relationship with one of the teachers. Persaud said the teacher then began to relate seeing the teen and a fellow teacher catching buses and talking together outside of school.
Persaud said he talked with the principal and they agreed to meet the following Tuesday. He said the man then instructed his son to return to his class. Persaud added that he was informed that the teacher who his son was having the relationship with had resigned earlier that day with immediate effect.
“He never told me that they expelled the child,” he said, while adding that when his son returned home that afternoon, he informed him that he was expelled and that the teacher, who told the principal of the relationship, had embarrassed him in front of other teachers and his class. He stated that the teacher told everyone that he was “seeing” another teacher.
“…if the teacher knew what was going on why they didn’t they tell us before… look what happen now. I collect my son ashes yesterday because he dead,” the father said.
Persaud recalled that when he confronted his son about the relationship, he admitted it but then stated that they had broken up. He said the teacher, said to be 18, was teaching at the school a little over two years.
The following day his son was extremely quiet, he noted. “The day after that we went to we family house down the street but he said he would come later. A while after I get a call that ‘Alex just call. He drink poison.’ And when we hurry back home he was on the verandah hollering with pain and vomiting,” he recalled. “Everything happen within two days.”
He said they rushed him to the Leonora Cottage Hospital and doctors managed to stop the vomiting and pump the poison out of his system. “When I asked him why he did it he said, ‘Ah sorry daddy.’ That’s all he keep saying. He never give me no reason why he would it. I had two children now I have one,” he added.
Four days after Alex drank the poison, his condition worsened and he was transferred to the Woodlands Hospital. He died three hours later.
Persaud said the teachers took too long to act and therefore they were responsible for withholding the information from the school and himself. He questioned why the teacher waited until the woman had resigned to inform them about the relationship. “This teacher knew the woman was having a relationship with a student and did nothing about it,” he charged.
He said the teacher allowed the situation to get out of control and he does not want what happen to his son to happen to other students. “Teachers should act immediately on issues like these. I think the Ministry of Education should look into this because this should be taken very seriously.”
“This was a loving child. He had no trouble at home. He was happy,” Persaud said, adding that he has since withdrawn his daughter from the school.
