The nine-year-old Class 4 student who died by suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of Neerja Modi School in Jaipur was bullied for 18 months and was told "bad words" but her class teacher repeatedly dismissed her and her parents’ complaints on the matter.
A detailed investigation by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has revealed that the authorities failed to keep a tab on the movement of the girl, Amaira Kumar Meena, who managed to reach the fourth floor of the building, despite her classroom being on the ground floor.
18 months of bullying
According to the CBSE probe committee, Amaira’s parents had approached school staff multiple times over the past year and a half, reporting that their daughter was being bullied, teased and spoken to in “bad words”. Some of these words allegedly had sexual undertones, which has upset the child, according to a report by NDTV.
The report mentioned that her class teacher repeatedly dismissed these concerns instead of taking corrective action. In September, Amaira’s father informed her teacher that a boy had bullied her. Instead of intervening, the teacher allegedly told him that Amaira “needs to adjust with other kids”.
The bullying only worsened. In October, the same boy allegedly twisted Amaira’s simple greeting of “hello” and told other students that she had said “I love you”. The teacher and coordinator did nothing, the report stated. It was only when Amaira’s mother confronted the boy’s mother that he apologised.
The CBSE panel also mentioned an earlier incident from May last year when a child showed Amaira the middle finger. Though her mother informed the teacher, the message went unanswered.
The committee concluded that the class teacher, Puneeta Sharma, and the school management were fully aware of the harassment Amaira faced but failed to take preventive or proactive steps.
Events inside the classroom before tragedy
The CBSE report reconstructed Amaira’s final hours on the basis of CCTV footage and witness accounts. Until around 11 am, she appeared cheerful, chatting with classmates, eating chocolate and golgappa, dancing and generally behaving normally.
Things changed shortly after that. The report stated that a group of boys wrote or drew something offensive on a digital slate inside the classroom. Amaira looked “puzzled, surprised and embarrassed” and repeatedly asked them to erase the content. She even wrote something herself and requested that it be removed.
The CBSE noted that the teacher’s intervention was “very much needed” at this point, yet no timely supervision or corrective action was taken.
The committee also observed “heated discussions” among some students and said that the incident may have involved derogatory language and “bad words”, matching the concerns repeatedly raised by Amaira’s parents.
The report added that the class teacher later admitted that Amaira had approached her earlier about a classmate using insulting words, and that other children had made similar complaints.
Apart from bullying, the CBSE’s findings reveal serious safety lapses on the school’s premises. Amaira’s classroom was located on the ground floor, yet she managed to reach the fourth floor, an area students of her age should not have been allowed to access without supervision.
The school also lacked steel safety nets on higher floors, a major violation of basic safety protocols. The committee stated that these failures allowed a vulnerable child to reach a dangerous spot unnoticed.
The report described the tragedy as the loss of “an innocent child” who faced “unbearable trauma and mental harassment” and said that the school failed to provide a healthy, safe environment for students.
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