Grief as Senior Four student commits suicide inside school dormitory

JINJA, UGANDA: Shock and grief on Tuesday engulfed Wanyange Girls SSS in Kakira Town council, Jinja district after a Senior Four Student committed suicide inside the school dormitory.

Josephine Namuli aged 17 is said to have hung herself to death using a rope that was found on her bed on the morning at around 7 am on Tuesday, June 7.

Kiira Region police spokesperson, ASP James Mubi, confirmed the incident and said that the cause of suicide was yet to be established but police had commenced investigations into the incident.

He however alleges that the suicidal act could be attributed to family problems or relationship stress but cautioned the community against taking their own lives as this can never be a problem solver for such.

The school management was not immediately available for a comment on the development as efforts to reach the headmistress went futile as she couldn’t pick any of our calls.

Some of the teachers who spoke on condition of anonymity the administration refused to make an official statement on the incident saying there were already misleading statements within the public domain and they have since handed over the investigations to the police.

The teacher who described Namuli as a bright and disciplined girl without any known history of misconduct or peer group influence said she (Namuli) refused to go for the morning preps only to be found hanging dead in the dormitory a few hours later.

ASP Mubi urged school owners to be vigilant and always carry out regular checks in school dormitories to look out for unauthorised items that may be smuggled into the rooms such as ropes, drugs, and alike.

“I urge school heads to earmark interaction spaces for children, and to be well equipped with councilors skilled enough to engage students while in stressful situations to avoid incidents like this,”  Mubi said.

The deceased’s body was conveyed to Jinja regional referral hospital for postmortem.