Singapore’s stressed schoolchildren show human cost of city state’s success in global education rankings
- Pupils are reporting symptoms of anxiety and stress as early as primary school and in rare cases have been driven to suicide
- They often face long days at school, hours of homework, and are then pushed to have private tuition – all of which affects their mental well-being
Children are reporting symptoms of anxiety and stress related to school as early as primary school, experts warn, and there have been extreme cases where pupils have been driven to suicide.
Youths often face long days at school, hours of homework, and are then pushed by parents to have private tuition, which is having an impact on mental well-being – a recent report found that overall the city’s pupils reported higher levels of anxiety than average.
Now, in a bid to reduce stress in its schools, Singapore is embarking upon reforms that will scrap some academic tests, and change the rigid streaming process.
“We have to balance the joy of learning and the rigour of education,” Ong Ye Kung, education minister said, as he announced some of the changes in parliament earlier this year.
