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China’s high-pressure, exam-driven education system is responsible for the vast majority of suicides by schoolchildren in the country, state media said today, citing a study.
A study of 79 such suicides last year found that almost 93 per cent happened following arguments between the pupils and their teachers, or after the students experienced heavy pressure with their studies.
Official statistics on youth suicides are hard to obtain, but a health ministry journal said that about 500 primary and middle school students kill themselves every year.
The 2014 Annual Report on China’s Education, or the Blue Book of Education, was released yesterday after a spate of suicides caused concern over the country’s high-pressure education system, where progress is based on key tests, including entrance exams for high school and university.
Most killed themselves because “they could not bear the heavy pressure of the test-oriented education system”, said the findings, quoted in the state-run China Daily newspaper.
The annual report is compiled by the government and education associations across China.
In January last year, a student in Inner Mongolia jumped from the top of a building after learning that his test scores had dropped, the newspaper said.
Earlier this month a 13-year-old boy in Jiangsu province hanged himself after he failed to finish his homework, the newspaper added.
The school day can be as long as 12 hours in China, and students can typically expect between two and four hours of homework on top of that. Many Chinese parents also take a highly disciplined approach to education, strictly enforcing their children’s studies.
The study found that almost two-thirds of the suicides came in the second half of the academic year, when exams are taken.
Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher on basic education at the National Institute of Education Sciences, told the China Daily that more communication was needed between students and their parents and teachers.
“Parents and teachers should often talk to the children, get to know their needs and respect their thoughts,” Chu said.
“This is a simple thing to do, but really effective.”


School pressure to blame for Chinese youth suicides, official study finds

A student reviews for the national college entrance exams at a school in Hebei province. Photo: Xinhua

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About 93pc of students who killed themselves did so after arguments with teachers


New | School pressure to blame for Chinese youth suicides, official study finds

About 93pc of students who killed themselves did so after arguments with teachers