SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
This month, India was rocked by some of its biggest anti-government protests in years.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #1: (Chanting in non-English language).
PFEIFFER: The unrest was partly triggered by news that several students took their own lives after being ordered to retake a medical school entrance exam. NPR's Diaa Hadid went to the city of Nagpur to meet one family left behind. And this story does touch on young people dying by suicide.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Neelum Chaturvedi says her daughter's English handwriting was beautiful.
NEELUM CHATURVEDI: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: She shows us a note written in curly ballpoint. It begins, mummy and daddy. It's the note her daughter Akanksha wrote before she took her life in May. Chaturvedi says, even this final note from her 18-year-old daughter shows how clever she was. She says, "I could never find fault in her."
CHATURVEDI: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: She hugs a frame picture of Akanksha. It's garlanded with plastic flowers. She lifts the frame picture and strokes the flowers away from her daughter's face like untidy bangs.
Like millions of families across India, Akanksha's parents sacrificed everything for their daughter's education. When she was a baby, they left their village, moved to the city of Nagpur, where the schools are better.
CHATURVEDI: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: Akanksha graduated with top grades, decided she'd try be a doctor. It's one of the few professions that offer economic mobility in India, but competition is fierce. Around 2 million students take the nationwide exam that's key to admission in a medical college. They vie for about 30,000 general spots in government colleges.
So Akanksha's father, Krishna Kumar, borrowed from relatives and banks to cover two years of tuition for his daughter at a coaching center. Like countless centers across India, it promises to help students clear the exam. And like countless other parents, Kumar says he worked day and night to pay off his debts, but he fell behind.
KRISHNA KUMAR: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: So he sold his only asset, his land in his ancestral village.
KUMAR: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: Kumar says, Akanksha felt their financial distress. She'd tell him, Papa, please don't worry, I'll pay it all back.
KUMAR: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: To meet that promise, Akanksha studied relentlessly, slept very little, often forgot to eat, never took a day off.
In her tiny bedroom, there's a note taped to the wall. It reads, May 3, practice makes a woman perfect. That's when Akanksha took the medical school entry exam. Her parents say, Akanksha thought she'd done really well, enough to enter a prestigious university.
Then on May 12, the Education Ministry announced it was canceling exam results after they discovered the questions had been leaked. All 2 million students had to retake the test. For days, Akanksha stayed in her room. Then...
KUMAR: (Crying).
HADID: She took her own life. Her father says, an exam leak killed her.
KUMAR: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: Akanksha was among at least a dozen other students who died by suicide after being ordered to retake the exam. Her note echoed those of other students who died. She wrote, I don't have the courage to retake the test. I'm sorry I ruined everything.
As news of the deaths emerged, anger brewed among other students. In June, they gathered in New Delhi to demand the education minister's resignation. By late July, their numbers swelled to tens of thousands. Protests spread to more than a dozen cities.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER #2: Resign do, resign do.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS #2: Resign do, resign do.
HADID: After ignoring the students for weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised the perpetrators would be brought to justice quickly. When that didn't end the protests, the education minister resigned, and the government agreed to pay compensation to families who lost their children. Akanksha's parents say no official has been in contact so far to discuss compensation. Her mother says, why would they speak to us? We're little people, vermin.
CHATURVEDI: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: And now they worry about their son, 14-year-old Raj. They say they once hoped Raj would follow his sister's example - study hard, aim for a good job. Now they're stuck. The only way out of poverty is for Raj to go through the same system that took their daughter. Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Nagpur.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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