THE Ministry of Human Services and Social Security is currently probing the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a 15-year-old girl, which occurred last week.

According to a statement issued by the aforementioned ministry, the child was a student of a city school. Subject minister Dr. Vindhya Persaud, through the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA), has moved to provide counselling for the child’s schoolmates.

“The CPA has since conducted a full Zoom session with children of the school and has invited them to do one-on-one, in-person counselling sessions with the agency,” the press release said.

In expressing condolences to the child’s family, Dr. Persaud pledged her ministry’s support to her loved ones.

“I am very disturbed that a school-going child will take her life. We know that the parents are deeply affected by the loss of this child and we would like to extend our deepest sympathies from the ministry and to offer our support,” Dr. Persaud said.

She added, “From the moment we heard this, we reached out to the school and her classmates and we provided counselling for those who have been seriously affected. We will work with the parents and all those involved, because this is a very, very tough time for them.”

During the meeting with the students, Director of Children Services and Head of the CPA, Ann Greene, encouraged the children that should they too come across difficult situations in life, using a permanent solution for a temporary problem is never the way to go.

Immediately after the meeting, one student visited the CPA and benefitted from a one-on-one session. Greene promised the students that she will conduct a thorough investigation into the incident to determine what really led to the girl ending her life.

“I gave them that promise and we’ve started the process to find out, because you see, she’s gone too soon and there is need for the remaining students to get closure.”

The intervention by the ministry seeks to assist the students to cope with the tragedy by providing necessary psychosocial support at this time. Assistance of psychosocial support to deal with the loss will also be given to the immediate family. The CPA has since visited the girl’s father who remains distraught and puzzled as to what could have caused his daughter to take such an action.