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MP Boad exam results aftermath: 12 students end life, 3 survive suicide attempt
Better education system and not government schemes can help prevent suicides, believe activists and psychologists.
On Friday, while the Madhya Pradesh State Board class 10 and class 12 examination results brought smiles to many students, it unfortunately also brought in despair and failure to several students. As per records this year, 51 per cent students failed class 10 and 33 per cent failed class 12.
This alarming figure brought about panic and grief among students leading to as many as 12 student suicides. Sadly, the state has seen close to 1,100 student suicides in the past six years, due to poor performance in examinations. A scheme ‘Ruk Jana Nahi’ by the state government to prevent suicides has not helped much either.
In a heart wrenching incident, a class 12 student Naman Kabde committed suicide by injecting himself with a poisonous substance, obtained from his mother’s (a nurse) medical kit. Kabde took this drastic step as he scored 74 per cent as opposed to his expected score of 90 per cent.
Another class 12 Kanchan Dubey from Jabalpur threw herself in front of a moving train as she failed a subject. She succumbed to her injuries on the spot. Devendra from Balaghat consumed poison as he failed in two subjects. Two siblings From Khamariya area, Satna district, Rashmi Pandey (class 12) and Deependra Pandey (class 10) allegedly committed suicide.
Class 12 students Tapish Miholiya (son of Virendra Miholiya, chairman of municipal body, Bhind), Reena Verma from Satna, Pragya Singh Kushwaha from Gwalior, Laxmi Kewat from Guna and Sumit Bairagi from Indore ended their lives by hanging from the ceiling fan of their respective rooms. The same practice was repeated by class 10 students Puneet Bagora from Indore and Pinki Prajapati from Tikamgarh.
Students Sakshi Vajpayeev (Gwalior), Rajan Singh and Rajeev Patel of Sidhi attempted suicide by consuming poison. They have been admitted to a hospitals in their town and their condition is stable now.
Activists and psychologists point out that societal pressure to do well in studies is a major reason behind the spike in number of suicides. They believe that instead of introducing various schemes, the government should emphasise on improving the quality of education.
An activist Rolly Shivhare said, “The government should improve the education level. They should also strengthen the counselling centres so students in distress can share their problems with counsellors.”
