HYDERABAD: Within 24 hours of the intermediate results being announced, as many as ten students across the State took their lives, because of poor performance. In spite of having a round-the-year helpline, the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) has once more failed to arrest the perennial problem of a spike in student-suicides, both during examination and post results.
Speaking to Express, B Krupakar Reddy, the coordinating officer of the helpline, said that there is no dearth of students calling on the number to seek help. If before the commencement of the examination, queries pertaining to the issuance of hall tickets, after the results, callers seek clarification on revaluation, re-verification and supplementary examinations.
“Students who sound low and tell us that even though they wrote well they could not score passing marks, are counselled and told that it was such not a big deal and they still have an opportunity with the advanced supplementary examination. They can clear it without losing a year. Parents are also counselled against pressurising children,” he said.
Academicians, however, are not convinced about the efficiency of the helpline. Calling it a half-baked approach, G Satish, principal of a private junior college in the city, alleged that the helpline was non-operational for the most part of the year.
“Clearly the counselling is not sufficient as suicides continue unabated. Most of the students who attempt or commit suicide are from corporate colleges. Board needs to take steps to reign in these colleges and also to ensure that parents do not unnecessarily pressurise children,” he said.
It may be recalled that the helpline was implemented in 2017 after a sudden spike in student-suicides within a couple of months between the academic session. P Madhusudhan Reddy, president of Government Intermediate Colleges Association, feels the helpline has failed to produce results, “There is an urgent need to adopt the grading method at an intermediate level,” he said.
Meanwhile, child rights activist, Achyuta Rao, said the Board is not serious about the issue of student-suicides after it termed the ongoing concerns around results as ‘mass hysteria’.“Students have killed themselves because they expected better marks and the Board calls it mass hysteria. It is derogatory and insensitive and the Board should apologise,” he said.
Topper last year, scores zero in Telugu
MANCHERIAL: G Navya was in for the shock of her life. On Friday, the Intermediate second-year student checked her results as soon as they were released -- she scored a zero in Telugu! Last years, she scored 98, topping the district in that subject.
Her college, Karimalla Junio College assured it would refer the matter to the Intermediate Board and see that her answer sheet is sent for reevaluation. They explained to Navya’s parents it could be a simple error. Navya has scored 825 marks in total. Getting admitted to a good college, currently, seems unlikely for her as she has failed in Telugu. Navya’s father is a part-time attendee at an ITI college while her mother is a daily- wage labourer.
17-year-old girl fails 3 subjects, kills self
JAGTIAL: A 17-year-old student, Vodnala Shivani, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself to the ceiling of her room after the announcement of the second year Intermediate examination results. The incident occurred on Friday night at Pochampet village in Sarangapur Mandal.
According to sources, Shivani failed in the three subjects. Ever since the results were out, she began acting uneasy, said her family members. Her father woke up at around 3 am on Saturday to get ready to go to work and found his daughter hanging to the ceiling. Sarangapur police registered a case and shifted her body to the Jagtial government hospital for postmortem. They then handed over the body to her parents.