The news that a Grade 10 student had allegedly poisoned five of her classmates, who were vying for a school head prefect position with her, purportedly to be selected for the said position, has gone viral in the media. Despite the fact that investigations are yet to reveal and corroborate a lot of information pertaining to the incident, the alleged motive behind it, has sparked a conversation on social media platforms as to whether children are capable of going to such extremes by themselves.

As per the reports, the student in question had mixed a poisonous substance, which is said to be a herbicide/weedicide, to the water bottles of the other five students when they were not in the classroom. The students that consumed the poisoned water had subsequently started vomiting, which resulted in them being rushed to the hospital, while the student that mixed the poison to the water had also consumed the poisoned water which had made her sick as well.

For the time being, the overall dialogue about this incident appears to depend on more hearsay and conjecture than verified information. Thus far, almost no media report about the incident  obtained official statements from either the alleged offender, her parents or guardians or the school authorities, and this is a serious precedent, especially when it comes to a sensitive matter that involves the lives and images of several adolescent girls. A lack of responsible reporting can be seen in many such media reports, which, needless to say, forms in most cases the basis on which the court of public opinion looks at the incident. Among the unverified but widely discussed information pertaining to the incident is whether the student that mixed poison to the water received anyone’s help including to acquire the poisonous substance and whether she was influenced by an external party to commit that deed. Regarding both the concerns, netizens say that the student may have had support or pressure from her parents, which is an extremely serious allegation.

The alleged offender’s alleged motive has also caused controversy, which, again, is based on what people say and think rather than confirmed information. In fact, to a degree, it is difficult to believe that a Grade 10 student believed that poisoning her competitors would have gone unnoticed and would help her win the head prefect post without competition.

While Police investigations are in progress to find out more about the incident, little to no attention seems to have been paid to the circumstances that may have led to this incident. Irrespective of the motive, it is evident that a student who was not under some sort of immense pressure would not have resorted to a criminal, misguided and an ineffective deed such as this. Where did that pressure come from, whether she had any sort of support to deal with it, and what made her feel that what she did was her only or last option, are questions that may be revealed through Police investigations but certainly require attention that goes beyond Police investigations. School children’s mental health is not a topic that Sri Lanka started discussing recently. That is also the most worrying factor, because the discussion surrounding school children’s mental health has not evolved with time. School counselling services and subjects or extracurricular activities that help students build their mental health capacity to deal with issues are limited only to a few schools.

The key takeaway of this incident is that it matters not how stable or calm school children may seem, but that we must not wait till a disaster occurs to consider their mental health seriously. If we actually needed a disaster to understand the importance of their mental health, this is it. It is imperative that we try to understand the mental health aspect of this incident, and make this incident a starting point to understand that school children’s mental health is not to be taken lightly or ignored even temporarily. In this regard, parents, the school authorities, and even the authorities tasked with handling social welfare and public health have a responsibility to take preemptive measures.