PHATTHALUNG: Satri Phatthalung School is investigating the factors that drove a 14-year-old female student to suicide, after a close friend pointed to the girl's dire financial situation as being the main reason.
The last straw is said to have been the advice of a student counsellor who told the girl to give up studying at the school given her money problems, according to the friend.
The girl texted several of her friends before she hanged herself last Thursday at her home, saying she wanted her death to be a message for the school and her family that things need to change.
The story came to light when a popular Facebook page, Yak Dang Chat Hai Return Part 3, published it, sparking a public outcry over the girl's suicide.
Mali Kaeo-la-iat, the school's director, insisted help had been offered and it was a misunderstanding that led the girl to take her own life.
The school has now launched a formal investigation to find out the truth behind what happened, she added.
Meanwhile, the teacher and student counsellor who talked to the girl before her suicide declined to speak to the media yesterday, claiming she was too devastated and upset to talk at the moment.
The same close friend, however, also revealed that the girl's mother had been a gambler while her estranged father had refused to contribute to the cost of her education.