A tragic student death in Kalaburagi comes to light: after police investigation revealed that the 18-year-old girl accused of having committed suicide due to the purported cancellation of the NEET examination, had in fact failed her PUC examinations and told her parents nothing but lies.
The student was Bhaghyashree and died by suicide, as revealed on Saturday. Shortly after her death, family members allegedly said that she had gone so far as to say that because of stress and frustration over the NEET examination controversy and reports of leakages of the question paper.
But a student who appeared in the second week of the investigation was found not to have cleared her II PUC examinations as her family had claimed. Officials said Bhaghyashree had reportedly told her parents that she had passed with 92 per cent marks, which had made them think she was doing well academically and might get ahead and go towards her dream to study medicine.
They trusted her speech, allegedly giving full endorsement of her ambitions, and enrolled her in coaching classes against NEET. Bhaghyashree was also recently attending for her NEET exam. Police investigations later confirmed that she had previously failed Mathematics and Physics in the initial PUC examination.
She then appeared for additional tests in both subjects. The additional results, confirmed on May 21, revealed that she passed Physics with 51 marks; however, she failed mathematics again, with a mere 24 marks. There are indications that Bhaghyashree was under extreme emotional stress and may have feared that her parents would eventually find out about her performance at school, and found it difficult to accept that.
Police think it may have contributed to her mental anguish that she was afraid to let down her family and would be yelled at over the lie. The incident has ignited discussions on the pressure of academic life, how the public perceives students, and the mental health of young hopeful students facing competitive exams such as NEET.
Parents and schools should be urged to support students who face academic losses, authorities have said. The police are conducting more investigations, while counselling professionals have emphasised the need for emotional support and open communication, in times of exams, between parents and children.
