Who is responsible for the unfortunate suicide of young boys and girls who failed in the Intermediate exams and what forced them to take the extreme step?
Were the errors in results the major reason or the environment created over the failures? Officials are now trying to analyse how much the fiasco contributed to the unfortunate death of students.
After the massive protests that painted the Government with a negative image officials apparently checked each and every answer script of the students who committed suicide. Most of them were in fact not affected by the errors in the tabulation or compilation of the final results, they claim.
Even their previous academic records were closely observed and it was apparently found that their scores were much below the pass mark. “We cannot entirely attribute the errors in results to their unfortunate deaths. Perhaps, they were more agonised by the few marks they secured in the exams,” a senior official said.
Officials express their unwillingness to reveal the results publicly given the sensitivity attached to them. “We can’t shift the blame on the students when they are not around,” a senior official said while admitting that errors in Intermediate were a fact and will remain a fact though they may not be a direct reason for the students’ suicides.
Human error
Such students perhaps were not affected by the bungling but what about the agony of thousands of others who either were given less marks or were failed and which was glaringly reflected in the marks sheets? There are no answers for this except saying that human errors can be rectified.
No mechanism to pre-empt suicides! The mechanism to pep up the students either from the Government or the colleges is shockingly absent. No one gives confidence to them that scoring less marks will no way hamper their higher studies or is a reflection of their abilities to succeed. In fact, C. Veerender, a psychologist who works with students on this problem, suggested to the government to establish a helpline just before the results to tell that failed students have several opportunities like seeking reverification and writing supplementary exams immediately. “But nothing moved,” he says adding that colleges are least bothered about handling the emotions of these teenagers. Mr. Veerender says a depression scale test with 23 questions can actually find out such tendencies among students. All it takes is just 10 minutes. Government should make it mandatory for all SSC and Intermediate students to take the test. Using the online feedback modules can be developed to counsel the targeted students and infuse confidence among them.