From: b sabha <bcsabha.kal...@gmail.com>
http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=91293&boxid=41637&ed_date=2016-07-01&ed_code=820009&ed_page=3 Gloria, you should’ve waited. You’ve passed! [http://epaper.dnaindia.com/images/author.gif] Kranti Vibhute kranti.vibh...@dnaindia.net<mailto:kranti.vibh...@dnaindia.net> [http://cdn.epaper.dnaindia.com/EpaperImages//Mumbai//01072016//01072016-md-main-3-41637-1-small.jpg] [http://epaper.dnaindia.com/images//dnsenlarge.gif] Mumbai: Had Gloria Menezes waited for 10 more days, her parents would not have lost their only child. The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) student from Holy Cross School, Kurla, ended her life on June 20, unable to withstand the humiliation she had to suffer. On June 6, when SSC results were posted online, Gloria was happy: she had secured first class with 61.8% marks. But the results showed that she had failed in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) paper. Gloria was convinced that it would be a mistake. She told her mother she was confident of passing the exam and applied for the photocopies of her answer sheets to the Mumbai Division Board. In the meantime, WhatsApp messages in the area blamed Gloria for ‘bringing disrepute’ to her school, which lost out on securing 100% victory. On Thursday, when her parents got the photocopies, they found that Gloria had cleared the ICT exams, scoring 25 marks out of 50. According to Gloria’s parents, the WhatsApp message started spreading on the day the SSC results were declared. Gloria applied for the photocopies of her answer sheets on June 8. She did not hear from the Board till June 20, the day she committed suicide. Gretta, mother of Gloria, said: “We went to the Board to get the photocopies of her ICT answer sheets today (Thursday). We were shocked to see that she had passed the exam as the school told us that she secured 9 marks out of 10 in her practical exam. Don’t know whom to blame. We have lost our child due to this silly mistake..” Duttatray Jagtap, Chairman, Mumbai Division Board, said: “We will need to check whether she actually got passing marks in ICT or whether it was the school at fault for not sending her practical exam marks. We cannot comment anything right now.” According to Gloria’s father George, “When we asked the Board, officials said that the school might not have sent the practical marks to the Board. The board officials asked us to bring it in writing from the school that they had submitted the practical examination marks to them. Now, we want the police to act.” Paramjit Singh Dahiya, DCP-Zone V, had this to say. “I am not familiar with the case. But if the parents want the police to investigate, we will surely help them. They can record their statements.” “Who spread the message against my daughter,” asks George. Even if the police find the culprits, it will be too late for George and Gretta. What they have lost is their only daughter. The ICT exam ICT is a graded subject with 50 marks. Of this, written exam accounts for 40 marks and practicals 10 marks. If a student gets grade ‘D’, he/she is declared failed, no matter how good the scores are in other subjects. As many as 9,720 students from Mumbai had failed to clear this exam this year despite scoring well in other subjects. Published Date: Jul 01, 2016
