Citing incidents of students committing suicide over failure to clear board exams, a PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court...

Citing incidents of students committing suicide over failure to clear board exams, a PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking handing over of results to parents directly instead of publishing them on websites and in newspapers. When the petition came up for hearing today, the court issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu School Education Secretary and Director. The bench comprising justices V Parthiban and P D Audikesavalu posted the PIL filed by A Senthil Kumar for hearing after four weeks and directed the authorities to file the counter by then. Senthil Kumar, in his petition, said the results of the public examinations held for the students of class 10, 11 and 12 were published in newspapers and on websites.

On seeing the results, the students who fail in the exams attempt suicide and some of them had also died, he said suggesting the alternative method of handing over the results to the parents at a parent-teacher meeting on the school premises. This can prevent suicides as appropriate counseling could be provided to the students and their parents can also take care of their wards. The petitioner also sought an interim injunction to restrain the authorities from publishing the results of the public examinations for the academic year 2017-18 in newspapers and on websites.