education

At least 23 students kill themselves after schools send out wrong results

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At least 23 students took their own lives after finding out they’d failed shool-leaving exams (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

At least 23 students in a southern Indian state killed themselves after a software firm sent out thousands of incorrect exam results.

More than 320,000 failed school-leaving tests in Telegana under the syllabus set by the state’s education board.

With higher education places fiercely sought after as a ticket to a good university spot and a bright future many youngsters are under a heavy burden to do well.

Against that backdrop huge protests broke out with shocked students and parents alike accusing the board of making mistakes and demanding the exams be re-marked.

As the uproar grew, reports emerged of suicides among those who had failed.

More than 320,000 students failed (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Following a review pushed by a children’s rights group the scores of 1,137 were looked at again and all subsequently passed.

One student who got zero in a particular subject ended up scoring 99 per cent when their paper was re-marked.

In the middle of the dispute sits software firm Globarena Technology who were awarded the government contract to process the final marks and announce results for more than 970,000 students.

The state education board insisted the wave of suicides were not ‘connected to mistakes due to technical and result processing errors’.

Globarena’s CEO, VSN Raju, told the BBC earlier this year: ‘We follow the process prescribed by the board. The incidents that have happened are unfortunate. Initially there were technical errors. We have made the corrections.’

More than 1,000 students passed when their paper was re-marked (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
One student who scored zero first time around scored 99 per cent following the review (Picture: Getty Images)

Relatives of one of the students who took their own life signalled an intention to file criminal charges against both the board and Globarena.

The 16-year-old’s family told the BBC she killed herself just hours after finding out she had failed.

In a startling example of the confusion, it emerged that a re-evaluation passed her before a second revision subsequently showed she failed again.

Board officials said Globarena played no part in the re-evaluation process, which did not include any of the 23 students who killed themselves.

However, parents are not sure what to make of the results and remain shocked as well as suspicious.

‘The exam itself is surrounded by stress,’ said psychologist Vasupradha Kartic.

‘Students need to be counselled regularly.’

She added that students needed to be reassured that failure was not a barrier to a career or future.



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