Guwahati:
A class VIII student at an English-medium school in Guwahati tried to kill herself after teachers pulled her up for not speaking in English.
Nobonita was rushed to hospital after she jumped from the second floor of the Gururkul Grammar School. Doctors say she was lucky to survive with minor head injuries.
"I jumped after the vice principal threatened to expel me," she explains.
Her friends watched in horror as Nobonita jumped out. "Dipanjali Patkhak ma'am asked her to write 'I will always speak in English' a 1,000 times. She didn't, and so she got onto a dustbin and jumped," says Afreen Chowdhury.
The school authorities couldn't be contacted, but Nobonita's parents claim that she was not just rebuked but humiliated. "She was already traumatised. And then last week, they took her to Class I to learn English. For a Class VIII student, this is insulting," says her father.
Nobonita's case seems to be a classic example of how thousands of students across India are not able to overcome their fear of the Engilsh language.