WAKISO - The Kampala Metropolitan Police are investigating the suspected suicide of a 19-year-old student from Wampewo Ntaake Secondary School, located in Kasangati, Wakiso District.

The tragic incident, which occurred on June 8, has prompted a broader conversation about the pressures faced by students.

ASP Luke Owoyesigire, Deputy Spokesperson for Kampala Metropolitan Police, shared details of the ongoing investigation. 

“The incident happened on the 8th of this month. A student called Nantongo Hawa, 19 years of age, was found hanging a few meters from the school,” Owoyesigyire reported.

Hawa, a student at Wampewo Ntaake Secondary School, had confided in the school’s counselor about the pressure she was facing from her mother to pursue a science combination (BCM) despite her interest in arts (MEG). 

The school organized a meeting involving Hawa and her mother to discuss the issue. 

“The two were seen on that day within the school premises, but a few minutes later, they could not find the girl,” Owoyesigyire explained. 

Tragically, Hawa was later found hanging from a roof nearby.

"This is a suspected suicide. We cannot, for sure, say that she hanged herself until the post-mortem comes back, proving otherwise, and we shall be giving you more details,” Owoyesigyire stated.

The incident has highlighted the intense pressure that students often face from parents and the education system. 

“If at all it is actually a suicide, we continuously appeal because you remember during lockdown we did register a lot of suicides coming from children, pupils, sometimes students who are under pressure from school and sometimes from their parents,” Owoyesigyire noted. 

He emphasized the need for parents to avoid pressuring their children into pursuing careers they are not interested in.

“Continuous pressure is what we suspect would have led to this, but we are waiting to find more information from the postmortem report. However, we continuously appeal to parents to desist from pressuring their children to take certain courses which they are not interested in,” he urged.

Statistics show that up to 368 individuals died by suicide in 2021, with 128 (35 per cent) females and 240 (65 per cent) males.

Source credit - Chimp reports