19 Telangana students commit suicide in one week

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Nineteen students have committed suicide in Telangana during last one week over the failure in the Intermediate examinations, according to media reports. This is said to be the highest number of suicides by Intermediate students in recent years with the opposition parties blaming the goof-ups by the Telangana Board of Intermediate Education (TBIE) for the spate of suicides.

The TBIE announced the results on April 18 and the goof-ups sparked an outcry from students and their parents. It drove some students to depression and resulted in their taking extreme the step.

The government has formed a three-member committee to probe the bungling in declaring the results. The suicides triggered protests by the opposition parties and student groups. As the issue snowballed into a major row, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao intervened on Wednesday to announce free re-verification of answer sheets for all the students who failed in the exams.

"I felt extremely unhappy and deeply hurt over such incidents. Suicides of students is most unfortunate. Intermediate education is not the whole life. Failing in examination does not amount to failing in the life. Life is precious. There will be plenty of opportunities," the CM said.

In another incident, a 16-year-old boy has committed suicide by consuming poison in Amit Vihar locality, police said. According to Station House Officer Santosh Kumar Singh, the youth took the extreme step when his parents were not in the house. The exact cause behind the suicide was none as yet and further investigations were on, the SHO said. The body has been sent for post mortem, he added.

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