A 13-year-old girl is now warded at the Paediatric Department at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope after attempting to take her own life on Monday.
The child, who attends a primary school in the North Eastern Education District, ingested an unknown amount of bleach around 6 am on Monday, while her grandmother was preparing for work.
The child is said to have immediately told her school teacher what she had done and the teacher in turn contacted the child’s guard, who was unaware the incident had taken place.
The child was rushed to the Arima Health Facility, where she was stabilised before being transferred to Mt Hope.
The child, who is preparing to write the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam on June 10, expressed frustration with online schooling and the stress over performing well as the reason for the suicide attempt.
Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, on hearing the news, extended best wishes to the student for a full recovery.
She said that there are school social workers available for both face-to-face and online sessions at this time, and she urged parents who are concerned about changes in behaviour displayed by their children to contact them through teachers or the school principals.
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