This puts our high-stakes tests - and occasional testing errors - in perspective:
An Indian teenager killed herself after receiving a mobile phone text message saying she had failed her school leaving exams, although she had actually passed, a report said today. The 17-year-old girl hanged herself yesterday morning after getting the SMS giving her the wrong information, the Hindustan Times reported...
Results of the school-leaving exams of over 250,000 students began being announced yesterday, with cellphone companies for a small fee offering to provide results via SMS to those students giving their roll numbers.
It was uncertain whether the company was at fault for sending the incorrect message or whether the girl had made a mistake in typing down her roll number, the report said.
Pressure from parents and peers on students to score high marks in the exams is immense and each year dozens across the country kill themselves when they find they have failed.
The Board of Education has finally set up an ecounseling hotline. Overdue, I'd say.
Posted by kswygert at May 24, 2004 09:15 PM