Following the news about a 16-year-old girl from Koratagere in Tumakuru district, who tried to kill herself as she was denied hall ticket to write SSLC examinations, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar visited her house recently.
The minister spoke personally to the girl for more than 15 minutes and promised to provide her an opportunity to appear for the exams in August as her first attempt.
After his visit, in a statement released to media, Kumar said, “As the girl did not register her name for SSLC exams this time, we will allow her to appear for the exams in August by considering it as her first attempt and also ensure she gets a seat in PUC.”
Dr G Parameshwara, the Koratagere MLA, also visited the girl following the incident.
The girl, who was denied hall ticket to write the exams scheduled to begin on Monday, tried to kill herself in the wee hours on Thursday.
Speaking to DH, the girl’s father Narasimha Murthy said, “It was just a matter of a few minutes. By god’s grace, we managed to rescue her.”
The girl, a student of a top private school in Dakshina Kannada district, could not get the admission ticket as the school has not sent her details to the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board, as her fees was pending.
“Five days ago, the minister called me up and asked me to write the exams in August. He said they cannot give me the hall ticket now. After this, I lost hope and decided to end my life.” The girl had scored 96 per cent in class 9.
“We are into agriculture and could not pay the fees due to the financial crisis in the wake of the pandemic. The school authorities are not ready to process anything unless the fee dues are cleared,” said the parents.
“We are not refusing to pay the fees. But we were asking for some time,” they said.
As per documents available with DH, the girl had brought this to the notice of the minister in the month of February through email.
Speaking about it D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, said, “If the child had communicated to the minister in February itself, the department could have helped her. This is negligence by the school as well as the department.”