{"id":611605,"date":"2019-04-30T07:56:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T07:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"
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Up to "},"modified":"2019-04-30T07:56:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T07:56:25","slug":"21-indian-students-kill-themselves-in-a-week-after-it-blunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/04\/30\/21-indian-students-kill-themselves-in-a-week-after-it-blunder\/","title":{"rendered":"21 Indian students kill themselves in a week after IT blunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Up to 21 students have killed themselves in the last week in India after an IT glitch led to them failing their exams.<\/p>\n

The victims, from\u00a0Telangana state, include at least one boy who threw himself in front of a train and another girl who burned herself to death, local media reports.<\/p>\n

Ministers have admitted there were \u2018major failings\u2019 with a new IT system used to grade the papers and that human error played a part as well.<\/p>\n

Pupils who had previously done well in exams told\u00a0CNN-News 18\u00a0that this year their marks were reduced to single-digits, meaning they failed overall.<\/p>\n

Politicians have begged students not to harm themselves if they believe their result has been affected, while offering re-marking free of charge.<\/p>\n

But concerns have been raised because the same private firm that marked the original tests \u2013\u00a0Globearena \u2013 will play a role in the re-marking.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of parents and pupils have since taken to the streets to protest.<\/p>\n

One parent told News 18: \u2018In first year, my son topped the exams, but now his marks are in single digits. I don\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n

\u2018I have assured him that everything will be sorted out. But what if he too harms himself?\u2019<\/p>\n

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Almost 1million students took the exams in Telangana state last month with more than 300,000 deemed to have failed under the new system<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In total, almost 1million pupils took exams in the state and out of those, more than 300,000 were found to have failed.<\/p>\n

While ministers say that only a small percentage of those who failed were affected by the errors, they conceded that the failure rate marked an increase on last year.<\/p>\n

The number of exam-related suicides is also the highest in four years.<\/p>\n

Speaking directly to pupils, Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao urged them not to do anything rash.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018Failing in examination does not amount to failing in life. Life is precious. Even if one fails in the examination, there will be plenty of opportunities.\u2019<\/p>\n

Source: Dailymail<\/p>\n

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