Schools under scrutiny after deaths
A memorial photo from Facebook of Kiran Nijjar, 17, and Akash Wadhwa, 16.
Akash Wadhwa, bullied, and suicidal, turned to his best friend for support. He told Kiran Nijjar he wanted to kill himself and she tried to get him help.
In the end, on Sept. 16, he succeeded in killing them both, a murder-suicide that now has friends and family asking whether the school system could have done more.
According to kids at Mississauga Secondary, where both teens were students, the school was aware of Wadhwa’s suicide threats. Some accuse teachers and principals of not doing more to prevent the Friday morning tragedy.
Paramjit Nijjar, Kiran’s father, said she told him Wadhwa had gone to a guidance counsellor.
“If someone knew something, they should have done something,” he said.
Wadhwa’s death, along with the murder of his friend, calls into question the school system’s role in dealing with the mental health of its young charges.
Jim Van Buskirk, chief social worker for the Peel District School Board, said schools are required to contact a student’s parent or guardian when a threat to commit suicide is made. The student would then be referred to a mental health facility if the threat was deemed serious.
In Wadhwa’s case, the school abided by the Peel board’s protocols when Wadhwa’s troubles became known, officials said.
Canadian pediatrician Dr. Richard Goldbloom, in a 2006 Senate committee report on mental health, called for more mental health services in “children’s natural habitat.”
But schools suffer a lack of resources. For example, the Peel board has one social worker for every four or five schools.
Once a student is referred, it can take up to 18 months to get a mental health assessment in Ontario, said Steve Lurie, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Another challenge is training. A 2010 report on Ontario’s publicly funded schools said teachers “have very low levels of knowledge about mental health issues, and mental health has not been a priority for professional development.”
In the end, on Sept. 16, he succeeded in killing them both, a murder-suicide that now has friends and family asking whether the school system could have done more.
According to kids at Mississauga Secondary, where both teens were students, the school was aware of Wadhwa’s suicide threats. Some accuse teachers and principals of not doing more to prevent the Friday morning tragedy.
Paramjit Nijjar, Kiran’s father, said she told him Wadhwa had gone to a guidance counsellor.
“If someone knew something, they should have done something,” he said.
Wadhwa’s death, along with the murder of his friend, calls into question the school system’s role in dealing with the mental health of its young charges.
Jim Van Buskirk, chief social worker for the Peel District School Board, said schools are required to contact a student’s parent or guardian when a threat to commit suicide is made. The student would then be referred to a mental health facility if the threat was deemed serious.
In Wadhwa’s case, the school abided by the Peel board’s protocols when Wadhwa’s troubles became known, officials said.
Canadian pediatrician Dr. Richard Goldbloom, in a 2006 Senate committee report on mental health, called for more mental health services in “children’s natural habitat.”
But schools suffer a lack of resources. For example, the Peel board has one social worker for every four or five schools.
Once a student is referred, it can take up to 18 months to get a mental health assessment in Ontario, said Steve Lurie, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Another challenge is training. A 2010 report on Ontario’s publicly funded schools said teachers “have very low levels of knowledge about mental health issues, and mental health has not been a priority for professional development.”
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