Two students in
Nanjing, Jiangsu province, committed suicide
on Thursday after failing to complete
homework assignments.
A student
surnamed Xie, in grade six of a
primary school in the city's
Lishui district, was found hanged on
a staircase at his home at
about 6 am. He was declared dead
at a hospital.
The 13-year-old
boy got up at 4 am to try
to finish his homework, police said.
They are continuing to investigate the
case.
In a suicide note,
the boy said he loved his
parents, felt sorry for them and
hoped they could bring lilies, his
favorite flower, to his
grave.
The other student, a
15-year-old boy, jumped to his death
at Jixiang Heights, a residential
community in Nanjing, at about 11
am.
The student, in grade
nine at a high school, failed
to complete his homework during the
May Day holiday, with the
Nanjing-based newspaper Modern Express
reporting that his parents suggested
he should stay at home and not
go to school before finishing his
assignments.
News of the
suicides triggered heated discussion among
Internet users, with many saying the
heavy burden of homework, and the
current education system, are to blame
for the tragedies.
According to
an ongoing online survey launched by
Teachers' Weekly and People.com, 84
percent of 961 primary and high school
students polled by 7 pm on Thursday
said they have homework to do
every day. Some 47 percent of the
students can finish their homework
within an hour, while 17.67 percent
have to spend at least three
hours on it every
day.
The survey was launched
on April 8 after the Ministry of
Education said in March that
provincial educational departments should
inspect and supervise schools from
April 1 to May 10 to help reduce
the burden on students.
"Though
China has put forward the concepts
of 'quality education' and 'reduction
of students' burdens' since the 1980s,
primary and high school students still
face heavy homework burdens," said
Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the
21st Century Education Research Institute in
Beijing.
"One reason is that
test scores are still an important
evaluation, or the only evaluation,
for a student to get admitted
to college. Therefore, it's natural
for teachers to leave heavy homework
assignments.
"The quality of
education at different schools also
contributes to the current
situation."
He suggested that
instead of putting forward "useless"
regulations, education departments should
improve the evaluation system for
college admission and balance the
educational qualities of different
schools.
