Junior high school student kills self over exam

A female junior high school student upset over failing the national exam killed herself in Karanganyar regency, Central Java, on Saturday.

The father of the 15-year-old victim, a student at a junior high school in Kerjo district, said his daughter received her exam results just hours before committing suicide.

He said his daughter cried during the drive home from the school, where the exam results were posted.

As soon as they arrived home, at about 2 p.m., she locked herself in her room. Several of her friends came to the house, but the girl refused to leave her room.

When one of her friends went outside the house and looked into the bedroom through a window, she saw the victim hanging from a piece of cloth.

The victim's father broke into the bedroom and cut his daughter down. The girl was barely breathing and died en route to the nearest community health center.

Head of the Karanganyar Education Office, Sugiyarso, said 535 junior high school students in the regency failed the national exam this year.

At the provincial level, of the 495,381 junior high school students who took the exam this year, 56,053, or 11.32 percent, failed, said Gatot Bambang Hastowo, deputy chairman of the Central Java Education Office.

By comparison, 64,340, or 13.29 percent of the 419,660 students who sat the exam last year, failed, he said.

An 18-year-old student at a vocational high school in Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta, reportedly tried to commit suicide after failing the earlier national exam for high schoolers.

The girl drank cleaning fluid in a failed attempt to take her own life, according to detik.com news portal.

According to data from the National Commission for the Protection of Children, at least 100 students across the country committed suicide or attempted suicide in 2006 after failing the national exams.

Meanwhile, in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, it was reported that six junior high school students in Sikka regency, East Nusa Tenggara, who missed this year's national exam were included on the roll of those students passing the exam.

Five are students at state SMP Negri I in Maumere, with the sixth attends Catholic junior high school SMP Virgo Videlis, also in Maumere.

Head of the regency education office, Robert da Silva, said Sunday he was coordinating with representatives of the two schools to postpone the announcement of the exam results while awaiting clarification from the Education Ministry in Jakarta.

SMP Virgo Videlis chairwoman Hildegardis said students understood why the announcement of the results had to be delayed.

However, she added, students and their parents hope everything is cleared up as quickly as possible so they can begin the process of registering for high school.

According to data from the East Nusa Tenggara Education Office, of the 51,770 junior high school students who took the exam, 17,959, or 33.69 percent, failed.

from Jakarta Post.....


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