I can't get these statistics out of my head. One in four teachers is showing signs of depression and 14 per cent suffer from anxiety disorder, according to a Chinese University survey. Of those with depression, half say they have lost the desire to live and 21 per cent claim to be suicidal. On the same day these numbers were released, a 16-year-old school girl walked out in the middle of an exam and jumped to her death from the third floor of her school building. She is the 17th pupil to kill herself this academic year. Twelve children committed suicide in the previous school year, and 14 killed themselves in 2001/02, while our teachers say they don't want to live because they are stressed out by school reforms. Imagine, though, what it would be like if 17 teachers committed suicide this year. Democrat and education sector representative Cheung Man-kwong and teachers' unions would call for school and government heads to roll; the government would set up a multimillion-dollar commission of inquiry; and, editorialists would feign outrage. But 17 dead kids, that's acceptable? In a war, you accept casualties. With a mass education system like Hong Kong's, you accept suicides, it seems. Though we have a more pressing concern - our teachers need more Prozac!
