A Nottinghamshire father whose daughter took her own life at university says the handing in of a petition to Downing Street calling for tougher regulation is a 'milestone'. Natasha Abrahart died on April 30, 2018, at the age of 20 - the same day she was due to give a presentation in a 329-seat lecture theatre at the University of Bristol.
The university was later ordered to pay £50,000 in compensation after a court found it did not make reasonable adjustments for Natasha's social anxiety disorder. But a petition was also launched by a group of bereaved families who lost relatives whilst they were studying at university, calling for universities to be made legally accountable for how students are treated.
That petition has now received more than 100,000 signatures, meaning it can now be considered for debate in Parliament, and it was handed in to Downing Street by some of the affected families on Tuesday (April 25). Bob Abrahart, the father of Natasha, who grew up in West Bridgford, said: "As parents, we have lived with this every day since we lost our daughter.
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"Handing our petition to Number 10 is an important milestone. But what's going to make the difference is bringing in changes to the law that will help to protect our students so that no other families, friends and communities have to experience the pain that we have."
One of those handing in the petition on Tuesday was Isabella De George, who lost her brother Harrison aged just 23 whilst he was studying at Manchester Metropolitan University. She said: "It feels a bit surreal that it's come to this and, whilst it's encouraging that we're being given this opportunity to raise awareness, at the same time it's so sad that we're having to do this.
"Each of us have lost a brother, sister, son or daughter and we're all here today as a result." The key aim of the campaign, which is being led by the LEARN Network of bereaved families alongside #ForThe100, is to ensure that universities have a statutory duty of care over their students.
The Department for Education says that universities already owe a duty of care to their students. But campaigners argue that this duty of care needs to be put on a legal footing.
Isabella De George said: "Students going into university have the immense pressures of high workloads, many of them being far away from home and making new friends and those need to be recognised far more by universities. The problem is that universities are run like businesses and they are self-governed, so they need to have that legal duty of care."
It's estimated that 100 students currently take their own lives each year and the duty of care being called for would cover policies and processes, as well as day-to-day practices at universities. Following the handing in of the petition to Downing Street, campaigners took part in a meeting at the House of Commons discussing student mental health, suicide and duty of care.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Every student death is a tragedy and we recognise that there are those with personal experience of these tragic events who have signed this petition, which will now be considered for debate in Parliament. We expect all universities to take active steps to prevent suicides and support students’ mental health.
"We are working closely with charities and the sector to promote and fund effective mental health support such as the free Student Space online service. We are committed to the wellbeing of students and our first ever Student Support Champion, Edward Peck, has been speaking to bereaved parents to understand where further improvements can be made."
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