<i>Promising girl now in peril </i>

Standing first in school is something to cheer about, an inspiration to move forward. But for 12-year-old Taiyaba, it has been quite the opposite.
Instead of getting commendation for the result, the girl got bullied by some of her classmates. A recent punishment allegedly by her teacher aggravated the situation, making her mentally imbalanced.
Already suffering from depression and having lost her father at the age of two and being raised without proper care, she has developed behaviour such as stuttering and twitching body parts.
Taiyaba, a class V student of Monipur Firoza Khatun Mahila Madrasa, a residential institute specialising in Islamic education, has been undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Mental Health for the last nine days.
"I took up a garment factory job two years after the death of her [Taiyaba] father. All I wanted was ensuring education for my two children," said Baby Khatun, her mother, at the health centre yesterday.
The three-member family includes a brother, who is one year younger than Taiyaba and studies in another madrasa in the city.
All was well in January as Baby Khatun shifted her daughter from a madrasa in Mohammadpur to the Monipur madrasa since the previous one lacked teachers. But matters started to get worse when Taiyaba stood first in the half-yearly examination.
Taiyaba's classmates, especially the former first girl, started bullying her. Frustrated, she started enjoying the company of senior students, her mother said.
On September 20, as all students except Taiyaba failed to perform class lesson, their class teacher Rahela, a new recruit, asked all not to have their launch.
"As she [Taiyaba] was having some food in the afternoon, Rahela got infuriated and caned her," Baby alleged. Some students told her about the punishment.
Baby took her daughter home next day on holiday and brought her back on September 22, thinking that such incidents happened for the sake of a good future.
"Taiyaba called me over phone from the madrasa that day and said she was not feeling well. I rushed there and found her caught in fever with no strength in her left hand." Baby said. "I took her home and got her admitted in Ibne Sina hospital in Kalyanpur where she stayed for four days."
On doctors' advice, she took her daughter to the mental health institute on September 30.
Dr Shafkat Wahid of the institute told The Daily Star that Taiyaba was suffering from conversion disorder.
"Usually, a child suffers from depression if he/she loses any of his/her parents before 11 years of age. She might have had this depression from childhood. And the bullying by classmates and the alleged torture might have made her mental condition worse."
He added it would take her six months to a year to recover.
Contacted, Sultana Razia, head of the madrasa, denied allegations of beating but said Rahela had scolded students and asked them not to have their lunch just to discipline them.
She claimed Taiyaba had fallen sick three months ago but recovered within a few hours. "Taiyaba sometimes expressed her frustration and loneliness to me. None but her mother came to visit her."