Lucknow: It is that time of the year when examination results come out. It's also a time when students resort to extreme measures.
This year, 16 students across Uttar Pradesh committed suicide after faring badly in exams -- a sad reminder of the pressure that exists on students to do well or take extreme measures.
Sunil Kumar Singh was an average student. But he caved into depression at scoring what he thought was an unworthy 51 per cent. The 18-year-old hung himself at home in the early hours on Monday.
His name is now just another statistic in exam-related suicides.
"He would be quiet; a little perturbed, but would not share his feelings," his father Vijender Singh said.
About 50 lakh students appeared for their board examinations this year. And since results were declared four days ago, 16 students have committed suicide in Uttar Pradesh alone.
In Jhansi, minutes after Vimlesh checked her result on the mobile phone she ran up to her room and drank poison. The 14-year-old had failed in English.
"My sister studied very hard but because she flunked this time she committed suicide," Vimlesh's brother Shashikant Yadav said.
Unless we understand that different divisions of marks are made only to accommodate all kinds of students, and that fail exists as an option because not everyone passes and does not mean that life comes to an end, student suicides numbers would not run into hundreds every year.