Examination stress takes another life

Mounting pressures to perform proved fatal for yet another minor - a class VIII student of City Montessori School (CMS) - who hanged herself on Monday evening in the city. She reportedly had not done well in her half-yearly examinations and was under severe stress as her annual examinations results were to be declared on Tuesday. This is the third incident of examination stress resulting in suicide in the past fortnight in the state.

Till now, incidents of students committing suicide were usually reported after the annual results of the board (or even internal) examinations were declared. This year, however, in all the three incidents, the students ended their life after realising that they had performed poorly and did not even wait for the results to confirm if they had actually performed that bad. The trend has once again put a question mark on the existing education system and the pressures to perform on young minds.

Though the suicide note recovered from the site of the incident did not talk of any specific reason for her drastic move, police suspect that mounting pressures to perform academically forced her to end her life.

A good student, Priya Bose (14), had scored poorly in her half-yearly examinations. This had adversely affected her self-esteem and she had worked hard for her annual examinations.