Editor,This is in reference to the story, “Pupil commits suicide over poor results”, published in The New Times on October 17My prayers and condolences go to the bereaved family who lost the kid in a suspected suicide. It’s reported that the little boy took his life after posting poor results from school.It is shocking and unfortunate! Ethical conduct should have prevailed in communicating these results to the boy. Suicide at this age? More debate and further investigation are needed on this case. May his soul RIP.JK, Northern Province, Rwanda***************************I find that too much emphasis is placed on children achieving high marks in tests today, instead of teaching children the love of learning. I have found that many children today don’t even know how to learn. Children are so busy worrying about the next test, and what is in the test, that they become completely stressed out and they can’t even focus on the subject being taught.The joy of learning has been thrown out of the window. Let us, both parents and teachers, start building our children with love and encouragement, instead of instilling fear in them. There is no proof that children, who excel academically at school, will necessarily achieve great things when they go out into the world later on in life.There are so many other qualities that are needed in order to succeed in the new world today which far outweigh academic achievements.A twelve-year-old has a whole sea of life ahead. What a tragedy. Who knows what he could have become in his life and to think that it ended because of some insignificant marks.Tanya, Kigali
