Man, 73, fails high school exams after 39th try since 1969

JAIPUR, India — A 73-year-old man who failed his 10th grade high school exams for the 39th time vowed today to try again next year in the hopes that an education will improve his job and marriage prospects.

Shivcharan Jatav, a farmer from the desert state of Rajasthan in western India, had no formal education as a child. He has been trying to pass the exams since 1969, when an army recruiter told him it would improve his chances of being accepted into the military.

"Since then I have been trying to pass this examination, but without any success," Jatav said, days after receiving the bitter news that he had failed again.

Jatav passed only one subject — the ancient language of Sanskrit — and he said he scored just 103 out of a total of 600 in the examinations.

Even though he is too old to join the army he has kept at it, hoping to become a more eligible bachelor.

"I could not get married as the girls told my family members that I was not properly educated. It's my fate that deprived me of education and a married life," he said.

Still, he has no regrets. "I am a happy and contented person," said Jatav.