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11-year-old boy killed self over poor exam grade, report says

Child jumped from apartment window
11-year-old boy killed self over poor exam grade, report says
Posted at 9:13 AM, Oct 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-22 10:13:45-04

An 11-year-old boy jumped from his family's 17th-floor apartment window because he was afraid to share a school exam grade with his parents.

The unidentified boy died on May 18 and a Singapore coroner confirmed on Friday that it was a suicide, likely brought on by the pressure he felt to do well in school.

In court proceedings related to the boy's death, his mother admitted she caned her son "lightly" on the hand whenever he scored under a certain threshold on his exams, according to Channel NewsAsia. The boy's mother said "he would cry when she hit him but would not be unhappy for long," according to Channel NewsAsia.

Investigators revealed that the boy's suicide came on the day he got his mid-year exam grades. The boy's parents said he locked himself in his bedroom rather than sharing the grades with them. When they unlocked the door to check on him, he was missing and had apparently leapt from his bedroom window.

Clint Davis is a reporter for the Scripps National News Desk. Follow him on Twitter @MrClintDavis.